1988:67 - WEXFORD: Bride St./South Main St., Townparks, Wexford

The excavation at Bride St. was carried out between April 1988 and January 1989 and was funded by Wexford Corporation and the Office of Public Works. Post-excavation work, funded by the National Heritage Council and the friends of Viking Wexford, commenced on 30 January and will be finished during 1989.

The site is located on the west side of South Main St. at the corner of Bride St. in the parish of St Mary's. Excavations by Dr P.F. Wallace at Oyster Lane, and foundation digging at other sites on the eastern side of South Main St., indicate that the site would originally have faced onto the medieval waterfront of Wexford.

The 19th-century buildings which existed on the site were built on shallow stone wall footings and did very little damage to medieval stratigraphy. Excavation uncovered the foundations of fifteen post and wattle houses dating from the early 11th century to the late 13th/early 14th century. The site was waterlogged and organic preservation was excellent. The houses appear to be a local variant of the most common Dublin type house plan (Wallace, Type 1). Other structures including pits, footpaths and animal pens were also uncovered.

The site was divided into two properties in the early 12th century and this division remained static until the present day. During the 11th century the houses were laid out with no regard to the alignment of any previous houses.

Evidence for iron working, carpentry, shoemaking, comb making, bone working, spinning and weaving and the making of querns was uncovered. Finds of pottery included 13th-century sherds from South Leinster, Bristol and Bordeaux; 12th-century sherds from South West England; and unidentified stamped lead glazed pottery from 11th-century contexts.

Municipal Buildings, Wexford