1992:166 - CLONMEL: Dowd's Lane, Tipperary

A trial excavation was carried out at Dowd's Lane, Clonmel, in the spring of 1992. The site is located at the south-east corner of the walled town. The manor of Clonmel was granted to William de Burgo some time before his death in 1205-06. The earliest written reference to the town is in the Pipe Roll of 14 John (1211-12). The building of the town fortifications commenced in 1298 and continued piecemeal into the 13th and 14th centuries. In 1269 the Franciscan Order acquired an area of land in the south-east corner of the walled town and built a friary and associated buildings on the site. The site of the excavation is situated in the north-east area of the former precinct of the friary. The area excavated occurred approximately 20m inside the town wall.

The trial excavation sought to establish the nature of activity in an area that was in medieval times part of the precinct of the friary. Two trial trenches were opened. The 1st trench extended in an east-west direction through the northern part of the site. It measured 9.2m in length and 3m in width. The 2nd trench also extended in an east-west direction and was 14.4m long and 2.65m wide. The trenches were 5.6m apart. The trial excavation provided no conclusive evidence for medieval activity on the site.

The archaeological evidence indicated that the only remaining signs of human activity on the site dated predominantly to the post-medieval period. However, objects of medieval date were uncovered. A copper alloy strap tag dating to between the 13th and 15th centuries was uncovered in a disturbed layer that contained bone, oyster shell and pottery of the post-medieval period and the early 20th century. An unstratified Saintonge strap handle fragment of medieval date was uncovered in an undisturbed layer of dark reddish brown silty clay. It was the only archaeological find from this layer. The earliest archaeological levels pre-dated the late 17th century. The earliest level consisted of a rubble type fill with a high content of broken slate, stones and crushed lime mortar. There was evidence for burning immediately above this layer. The rubble deposit and the layer of burning was confined to a limited area in the south-east corner of Trench 1 and were sealed by deposits dating to the late 17th or early 18th century. In a different part of the trench, in a level overlying the layer of burning, there was a layer of cobbles. The layer that sealed the cobbles contained pottery dating to between the late 17th and early 18th century. It also occurred beneath the cobbles but it contained no dateable finds at this level. In the middle of the trench, overlying the cobbles, there was a limited area of stone paving. This area of paving appears to have been a street or yard There were no dateable finds from the layer of sand, gravel and mortar it rested on. The layer that sealed the paving dated to the post-medieval period. Only limited areas of the cobbles and paving were apparent as both features extended underneath the sides of the trench. In the northern and eastern parts of the trench there was no clear archaeological stratification. Instead there were deposits of fill with a high content of stone, slate, brick and pieces of mortar and almost no dateable finds.

In the 2nd trench extensive disturbance made it almost impossible for archaeological layers to survive. For example, a wall foundation, 0.55m deep and 0.56m wide, extended through the centre of the entire length of the trench. At the western end there was the remains of an industrial chimney/flue which extended to a depth of 1.5m. The chimney would appear to be associated with brewing-related activities that occurred on the site from the early 1800s to the 1960s. In the middle of the trench there was a stone chamber-like structure. It extended to at least a depth of 2.95m. The chamber was full of rubble. The finds from the rubble included animal bone, clay pipes and pottery dating to the 18th and 19th centuries. Two unstratified sherds of late medieval pottery were uncovered from an undisturbed dark reddish brown clay.

Although archaeological deposits were limited on this site, the discovery of a large quantity of post-medieval pottery suggests that much of the activity on the site was post-Cromwellian in date and would appear to have occurred during the time that the friary was abandoned between the early 1540s and the late 1700s.

1 Wolfe Tone St, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary