1999:823 - LITTLE ISLAND, Clonmel, Tipperary

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Tipperary Site name: LITTLE ISLAND, Clonmel

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0470

Author: Edmond O'Donovan, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.

Site type: Industrial site

Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)

ITM: E 620195m, N 622250m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.351475, -7.703552

Monitoring was carried out at a development site at Hughes' Mill, Little Island, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. Little Island is on the southern side of the River Suir, immediately outside the medieval town. There are numerous medieval and post-medieval references to milling on Little Island and at Hughes' Mill, where an extensive 18th- and 19th-century milling complex survives.

The monitoring of three engineering test-trenches revealed a complex of culverts running under the proposed development site. The engineering trenches were excavated to identify the location of these culverts and the surrounding ground conditions so that the foundations could be designed to avoid the culverts. The culverts are likely to date from the 18th century and appear to have been altered over the course of the use of the mill from this date. The arched entrance into one of the culverts at the head-race is constructed using wicker centring; this adjoins the site of the medieval bridge over the River Suir onto Little Island.

2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin