County: Limerick Site name: BANK LANE, RATHKEALE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: L1029–037 Licence number: 07E0394
Author: Mary Henry, Mary Henry Archaeological Services Ltd, 17 Staunton Row, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 536521m, N 641752m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.523434, -8.935424
A vacant site was assessed in advance of the construction of three two-storey dwelling-houses. The site is within the historic town of Rathkeale. Three trenches were opened.
Testing was carried out at three locations across the site. No archaeological features or deposits were identified in any of the trenches opened. Stratigraphy was relatively consistent in the three openings. There was no protective sod cover or concrete across the site but rather a surface of stone/crushed rubble intermixed with tamped soil, which consistently measured 0.12m thick. Beneath the topsoil, extending to the base of the trenches, was friable, dark-brown, sandy silty clay. Contained within this deposit were occasional fragments of factory-made brick, frequent to abundant pieces of limestone and modern building debris, including glass and wood. This layer had a maximum thickness of 0.2mm in Trench 1, whilst measuring up to 0.9m thick in Trench 3. Two types of natural were present at the base of the trench. The first consisted of very compacted, orange/brown, high-silicate sandy clay with occasional to frequent gravels. Interspersed with the clay was a mixture of fractured and plate limestone.
