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21 Dec 2025
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21 Dec 2025
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Patrick Sarsfield negotiated the Treaty of Limerick in 1691 after staunchly defending the city.
THE SARSFIELD Homecoming Project continues full steam ahead with Mayor Francis Foley scheduled to visit the believed site of Patrick Sarsfield’s remains later this month.
Councillor Foley will travel to Huy, Belgium on May 31 with Dr Loïc Guyon, Honorary Consul of France in Limerick and founder of The Sarsfield Homecoming Project; Dr Pat Daly, CE of Limerick City and County Council; Frank Coyne of Aegis Archaeology and sponsor of the project John Shaw of Carelon Ireland.
The assemblage will visit the site where Sarsfield’s remains are located, according to Dr Guyon’s research. They will also meet with the local council and discuss the timeline for the project.
By autumn this year, the preliminary on-site works will take place. Trial trenching, soil analysation and geophysical surveying are among the procedures that will occur. In early summer of next year, a full scale excavation will take place and DNA testing will begin.
Plans are also in place to begin a Y-DNA mapping exercise with Irish men residing in Ireland who hold the Sarsfield surname.
Dr Guyon launched The Sarsfield Homecoming Project in October 2020. The aim of the project was to bring back the remains of Sarsfield to Limerick.
Sarsfield negotiated the Treaty of Limerick in 1691 after staunchly defending the city. Despite suffering overall defeat, the treaty ended the Williamite War. After continuing the fight in France, Sarsfield perished in service in 1693, in what is now Belgium.
Dr Guyon, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of French Studies at Mary Immaculate College, has spent over two years researching Sarsfield. He has published his research in both French and English in his academic journals Annales du Cercle Hutois des Sciences & Beaux-Arts, and the North Munster Antiquarian Journal.
The total cost of the excavation is an estimated €90,000 and a fundraising campaign is underway.
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