Well

The National Monuments Service's description

A well within the walled town of Kilmallock (LI047-022---) was excavated by John O'Connor under licence No. 99E0215 on the 'Sarsfield Street' part of the Urban Renewal Scheme's monitoring work; all other features in this section are covered by LI047-022044-. The well was described by O'Connor as following; 'On 31st August and 1st September the footpath was removed on the south-west side of Sarsfield Street between CH32 and CH168. At Ch155 the top of a circular limestone and mortar well (F208) was exposed. It was found 0.89m from the shop front and was c. 1.38m in diameter. It was constructed of roughly hewn limestone blocks c.0.18m by 0.15m by 0.12-0.2m. The well still contained water and initially only the top seven courses were visible. The water was pumped out and eight more courses were revealed. There were three possible building phases visible in the well. the most recent phase was represented by the addition of the four upper courses, which were regularly coursed and mortar bonded. The middle phase consisted of the fifth and sixth courses, which were also regularly coursed but showed no evidence of having been mortar bonded. The remaining courses were of the earliest phase of works and were randomly coursed with no obvious evidence of bonding material. The well was measured at 7.6m deep but may have been deeper. When the well was recorded it was covered with a wooden board and then concrete poured over this' (O'Connor 1999).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 01 October 2019