2025:489 - Convent Road, Tallow, Waterford

Archaeological testing was undertaken on the footprint of a block of 4 apartments on Convent Road, Tallow, Co. Waterford, on a brown field site. It was originally the site of a 19^th-century warehouse (NIAH 22818006), now demolished. Some fifteen years ago development works for a housing development commenced. The housing project development did not proceed beyond the groundwork phase and the site was levelled and tarmacked for use as a car park. As part of the initial development, steel supports to shore the gable of the adjacent three-storey building to the south were inserted. A concrete block wall was built around the base of the steel supports for safety. The area of the modern wall and the ground on which the steel supports are located lie within the development site. The wall cannot be demolished until the new building works commence which meant that not all the development site was available for testing.

Two small test trenches, both 3m in length, were excavated within the open area of the development site. The stratigraphy recorded in both trenches was similar. The upper layer of tarmac was removed by the machine. It overlay a layer of gravel and rubble which probably derived from demolition of the warehouse. This overlay a layer of brown clay, whose depth was not determined.

No archaeological stratigraphy or artefacts and no building stone associated with the demolished warehouse was recorded in either of the trenches.