2008:792 - Bishop Street, Newcastle West, Limerick

An assessment, including testing, was carried out in advance of alterations to a house which stands in the south-eastern corner of a supermarket carpark. Two test-trenches were excavated.
Trench 1 measured 10m by 1m, and was located in the carpark, to the rear, or north, of the 19th-century building proposed for development. The soil profile was 0.035m of tarmac over 0.18m of sand and gravel hardcore with 60% stones over 0.05m of red-brown clay sterile subsoil, without stones. The depth of the trench was 0.3m at the southern end, and 0.35m at the northern end. No material of an archaeological nature was observed in the trench.
Trench 2 measured 8m by 1m. The general soil profile was 0.2m of pea-gravel over 0.2m of dark-brown clay with inclusions of brick, charcoal and modern pottery. This material was garden soil. Below this was 0.15m of red-brown clay with very few stones. This material was sterile subsoil, as in Trench 1. At 3m from the northern end of the trench, a line of small rounded stones, 0.05–0.1m in length, came to light. The trench was extended by 2.5m by 1m on the eastern side to investigate the stones. In Trench 2 extension, more of these stones came to light. They formed a cobbled surface which measured c. 1.5m across. On the eastern side of this cobbled area, there were two slabs. These covered what seemed to be a drain or sewer pipe. Two fragments of late 19th-/early 20th-century pottery were associated with the drain. It appeared to be the original surface of the yard to the rear, or north-west of the existing house on the site, and a household drain of early modern date.