County: Limerick Site name: Widow’s Alms Houses, Nicholas Street, Limerick
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: C528
Author: Frank Coyne
Site type: Burials
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 157836m, N 157752m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.669668, -8.623968
Monitoring of development works for a parking space near the Widow’s Alms Houses led to the identification of a minimum of seven in situ burials, as well as a quantity of disarticulated human remains. The burials lay directly below the top sod and a thin layer of topsoil. The burials were unexcavated, but were examined by osteo-archaeologist Linda Lynch, on whose report this summary is based.
Analysis of the disarticulated bone recovered during the stripping of the site produced an MNI (minimum number of individuals) of three adults and three juveniles. It is possible that these bones originated from some of the seven identified burials, but it is equally likely that at least some of the bones were from burials previously truncated in the area which were not identified during the present works. Development works ceased once the human skeletal remains appeared. It is extremely likely that these are only a small sample of the burials in this location and the likelihood is that there are many more burials both in this site and in the immediate area. The burials also represent the most recent archaeological phase on the site. The site is recorded on www.archaeology.ie as a graveyard, LI005-017144-. In addition, it is known that the site of the medieval church of St Nicholas, LI005-017114-, is located just to the south of the present development. Thus the identification of human burials at this site is not unexpected.
As far as could be determined, most of the burials were extended, with the head to the south-west, an entirely normal orientation in terms of Christian burials. The exception was Skeleton 2, c. 3 years, which lay with the head to the north-east. The only adult in the in situ burials was buried in a prone position, lying on the stomach, and was possibly female, although this was based only on morphological features. The pelvis is a more reliable indicator of sex, but exposure of other bones during the present assessment would simply accelerate decomposition of the remains, and the premise was always on minimal disturbance of the remains.
After analysis by the osteo-archaeologist, the burials were covered in terram, a layer of sand, then a layer of reinforced concrete, and so are preserved in situ. These works were also monitored.
Aegis Archaeology Ltd, 32 Nicholas Street, King’s Island, Limerick.
