Archaeologists are investigating a 16th-century fireplace discovered on the wall of a building being demolished in Limerick.
The craftsman-cut and adorned stone fireplace lies at first-floor level at the back of a shoe shop in Nicholas Street, which at one time was the Great Street of the walled fortress city.
The 16th-century house containing the fireplace would have belonged to a merchant prince or a member of the English ruling class.
A map of the period shows four-storey or even five-storey houses in the area.