County: Limerick Site name: SIR HARRY’S MALL, LIMERICK
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 5:17 Licence number: 05E0376
Author: Linda G. Lynch, Aegis Archaeology Ltd, 16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick.
Site type: Medieval cemetery and town wall
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 558120m, N 657573m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.667712, -8.619161
Excavations were undertaken at the site of a proposed development at Sir Harry’s Mall. The site had previously been tested by Frank Coyne (Excavations 2004, No. 1020, 03E1610 ext.) The excavations were confined between the line of the medieval town wall, which ran east–west along the north side of the site, and a later quay wall running parallel at the south. Pile foundations were proposed, in order to minimise disturbance of the archaeological deposits including human inhumations, which had been confirmed by the testing of Coyne. The archaeological investigations were localised to the areas of the pile foundations. The development site measured 37m east–west by 10m, of which c. 33% was excavated.
A total of 90 human skeletons, as well as considerable quantities of disarticulated bone, were recovered during the excavation. The osteoarchaeological analysis is ongoing at present. Stratigraphic information indicated up to four distinct phases of burial. Between the two earliest phases the site appears to have temporarily ceased to function as a cemetery. This was determined from the presence of a double row of stakes that cut through the earliest burials. These stakes were later truncated to allow further interments.
An extensive stretch of the southern exterior face of the medieval town wall was exposed during the excavation. Although the plinth of the wall was exposed, the actual base was not revealed. No evidence of an external ditch was recorded, although the concentration of the excavations to the actual pile foundations of the new development may have influenced this.
It is likely that the cemetery was associated with the nearby Priory of Ss Mary and Edward (the Fratres Cruciferi), which was founded in 1211/12. The burials post-date the construction of the town wall in 1237. The priory was dissolved in 1538 and demolished in the later 18th century. Indications are therefore that the site may have been used for formal burial from the fourth or fifth decade of the 13th century up until at least the 16th century. Some inhumations – in particular a late prone burial – suggest clandestine use of the cemetery after it went out of official use.
