County: Limerick Site name: Sreelane, Co. Limerick/Garraun, Co. Clare
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 06D042, 06R0076
Author: Eoghan Kieran, Moore Archaeological and Environmental Services, Corporate House, Ballybrit Business Park, Galway.
Site type: Underwater assessment
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 561958m, N 658543m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.676716, -8.562532
An underwater assessment was carried out at the site of a proposed pedestrian bridge crossing of the River Shannon between Sreelane, Co. Limerick, and Garraun, Co. Clare. The work was undertaken on 12 May 2006. The desktop assessment noted that, although the river has been used as a thoroughfare since earliest times, only two Roman coins were recovered from the area. These artefacts were found on the riverbank in the townland of Sreelane, on the southern bank.
Cartographic analysis showed how an eel weir depicted on the first-edition OS map of 1837 appeared to be located in the vicinity of the development, but it did not appear in the second edition. There was no trace of this feature noted in the survey.
The site survey recorded that, in the area of the development, the river was divided into two channels by a series of small vegetation-covered islands. The riverbed was comprised of medium to coarse gravel with overlying stones and varied vegetative cover. The underwater and metal-detection surveys did not uncover any archaeological remains or features in the development zone.
