County: Limerick Site name: Hospital, Oola and Murroe
Sites and Monuments Record No.: various Licence number: 13E0164
Author: Fintan Walsh
Site type: Medieval occupation layer?
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 570642m, N 636268m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.477040, -8.432160
Monitoring was undertaken of groundworks associated with the Mains Rehabilitation Works at Hospital, Oola and Murroe, Co. Limerick. Monitoring was recommended in a preliminary impact assessment undertaken by a Limerick County Council archaeologist. Monitoring was carried out between June 2013 and September 2014.
No archaeological features were identified at Oola or Murroe.
In Hospital the pipline route ran along the existing roadway and adjacent to existing watermains in Hospital town, in the townlands of Barrysfarm and Castlefarm. The pipeline route runs in proximity to several RMPs including an enclosure (LI0032-146002), a religious house and graveyard (LI032-147002, 003), a holy well (LI032-147004) and a castle site (LI032-147005).
Two key archaeological contexts were identified in Hospital - an enclosure ditch which is part of LI032-146002 and a possible medieval deposit(s) under the road in the village.
The possible post-medieval deposit was identified south of Hospital Bridge and was traced, intermittently and at varying depths, along the length of the trench. In addition, a hardened surface was encountered at the very southern extent of the pipe-trench which may represent the remains of an earlier road surface.
The northern portion of the pipeline route at Hospital traversed a greenfield area within the constraints of a recorded monument – enclosure LI032-146002. Outside of the enclosure the pipe-trench (which was < 4m wide) was monitored and nothing of archaeological significance was identified. The pipe-trench section from outside the projected line of the bank of the enclosure to the water tower was carefully managed on the ground so that only the existing water pipe-trench was exposed and excavated during the works. This meant that there was no impact on the RMP enclosure. Animal bone was recorded in the disturbed ploughsoil horizon which sealed the old pipe trench close to the tower. Importantly the re-excavation of the pipe trench afforded an opportunity to inspect the profile of the enclosure ditches. Although the faces of the pipe-trench were difficult to assess (as the existing trench was cut into bedrock and soil conditions were poor) there was a suggestion of a pair of east-west orientated ditches, which were archaeologically recorded in section.
