2001:1112 - CLONMEL: Old St Mary’s Church, Tipperary

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Tipperary Site name: CLONMEL: Old St Mary’s Church

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0308

Author: Dave Pollock

Site type: Church

Period/Dating: Multi-period

ITM: E 620021m, N 622544m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.354122, -7.706095

In January 2001 two small test-trenches were cut by hand in the churchyard around Old St Mary’s to assess the potential disturbance from a proposed foul drain.

The trench at the foot of the vestry tower found a narrow strip (c. 1m) of reasonable survival at the battered base of the tower; further away the ground was thoroughly disturbed by grave-digging to at least 0.5m below ground level. The tower construction level was 0.25–0.35m below present ground level, overlying an old soil over subsoil at 0.45m.

The other trench was opened at the edge of the churchyard path, and found two generations of path overlying building/demolition debris (to c. 0.5m below present ground level) probably associated with restoration works in 1805. The ground beside the path was badly disturbed by graves.

Knockrower Road, Stradbally, Co. Waterford