2005:955 - CHURCH STREET, ASKEATON, Limerick

The proposed development site lies in the centre of Askeaton town in a position east of the River Deel and north of Church Street. It does not face onto the latter but is accessed via a short laneway running northwards off Church Street near its western end. The entire site lies within the zone of archaeological potential for the medieval town of Askeaton (SMR 11:92). Roughly rectangular in plan, the site has an internal area of 0.34ha. It is surrounded on all sides by a mortared wall of random coursed limestone rubble which varies in height between c. 2.3m and 3.5m in height. Test excavations were undertaken in advance of application for planning permission.
Works were undertaken on 10 and 11 August 2005. Seven trenches were excavated. Two (Trenches 1 and 3) ran east–west, parallel with and close to the southern and northern enclosing wall respectively. The other five cuttings were all aligned north–south.
Trench 1, with a length of 26.5m and a width of 2m, was c. 2m north of the southern enclosing wall of the site. The topsoil, a dark-brown organic loam, was 0.4–0.45m thick and came down onto a very light-brown subsoil of loose gritty silt mixed with pieces of limestone bedrock ranging in size from small pieces up to occasional boulders. In other places the subsoil was a yellow clayey silt with few inclusions.
About 5m east of the western end of the trench a field drain cut diagonally across the trench from south-south-west to north-north-east and then continued parallel with the trench, visible all along its northern side. This field drain had a loose mixed fill of topsoil and limestone rubble, with frequent voids between the larger stones. Finds included some oyster shell and bone fragments, as well as some glass, post-medieval pottery and a clay-pipe stem.
Trench 2 had a length of 57m and a width of 2m. Topsoil was from 0.35–0.55m thick. The composition of topsoil and subsoil was as in Trench 1. At least twelve field drains of the type exposed in Trench 1 were visible in this trench. These were shallow (mostly less than 0.2m deep below the surface of the subsoil), with an average width of 2–2.5m. These drains all appear to be aligned roughly east–west. Modern pottery and red-brick fragments were recovered from within several of the drains.
Trench 3 lay c. 1.5m north of the northern enclosing wall of the site. It had a length of 32.5m and a width of 2m. Topsoil was 0.3–0.4m thick. The composition of topsoil and subsoil was as in Trench 1. As with Trench 1, a post-medieval field drain was exposed along almost the full length of this trench, the drain also running east–west.
Trench 4 had a length of 51m and a width of 2m. Topsoil was 0.35–0.5m thick. Composition of topsoil and subsoil was as in Trench 1. Trench 4 cuts roughly perpendicularly across the same post-medieval field drains encountered in Trench 2.
Trench 5 had a length of 54m and a width of 2m. The topsoil varied between 0.3 and 0.4m in thickness. It cut roughly perpendicularly across the same post-medieval field drains encountered in Trench 2. Finds from the drains in this cutting included post-medieval blackware pottery, slag fragments and bone.
Trench 6 had a length of 50m and a width of 2m. The topsoil varied between 0.25 and 0.4m in thickness. It cut roughly perpendicularly across the same post-medieval field drains encountered in Trench 2. In addition, a shallow culvert built of roughly coursed limestone with capstones was uncovered some 5m from the southern end of the trench. This drain was, like the numerous simpler field drains, aligned east–west.
Trench 7 had a length of 49m and a width of 2m. For most of its length a field drain is exposed in the eastern side of the trench. This field drain, though identical in all other respects to the others uncovered on the site, is aligned north–south rather than east–west.
The layout of the site in the mid-19th century, as shown on the first-edition OS map, is of interest. This appears to represent a cross-shaped arrangement of two bisecting avenues of trees/shrubs, with a circular central court where they meet. The frequency of the substantial field drains on the site (on average, about 2m apart) might also suggest an exceptionally well-cultivated piece of land. These facts, when considered in conjunction with the substantial, continuous bounding wall and apple trees, may suggest the site was an ornamental or kitchen garden (possibly both) belonging to the local landlord or some other of the more affluent members of the community in the 19th century. Nothing indicating a date earlier than the 19th century was recovered.