County: Limerick Site name: LIMERICK: Sheep Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1318 ext.
Author: Tracy Collins, Aegis Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: Town defences
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 558159m, N 655744m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.651277, -8.618353
Following on from work carried out during 2002 (Excavations 2002, No. 1225), extra testing of the site took place and the medieval town wall was exposed along the eastern face. One extra trench was excavated by machine across Meat Market Lane. No features were discovered in this trench. A 55m length of the eastern external face of the town wall was exposed down to the basal plinth, with a maximum height of 3m and width of 1.9m. The upper portion has remnants of plaster, mortar and opes for windows and doors, most likely the remains of cellar structures. The lower portion of the wall was well built with randomly sized limestone blocks bound with a gritty white mortar, but a lot of this had washed out along much of the lower portion of the wall. Around 300 sherds of post-medieval and early modern pottery were retrieved, along with some animal bone and a cannon ball. One fragment of medieval Saintonge ware was recovered, dating to the late 13th/early 14th centuries. The portion of town wall was left in situ to be incorporated into the new development at the site.
16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick
