1993:214 - WATERFORD: Coffee House Lane, Greyfriars, Waterford

Archaeological investigations involved two separate projects; architectural survey of standing buildings, followed by excavation of areas where the ground would be disturbed during the redevelopment of the site as a youth hostel and car park.

(i) Architectural Survey
Incorporated into a derelict warehouse were part of the two side walls and the southern gable of an early building. This appeared to be roughly rectangular; maximum internal dimensions at ground floor level c. 13.8m x 4.65m and constructed of rubble, mainly slate, plastered internally and externally from new.

Fragmentary original features included an apparent ground floor entrance in the southern gable wall and one jamb of a splayed window and another, right-angled arris in the west wall, at first floor level. In the same wall on the same level was an inserted fireplace of impressive proportions. The lintel of this was an oak beam, carried on two corbels and decorated with a roll moulding, rising to a central ogee point. A few surviving stones above the lintel indicated the existence of an internal chimney breast.

From these surviving fragments the impression gained is of a medieval building of two storeys with accommodation at first floor level. The secondary fireplace is provisionally dated to the 16th century and has now been re-erected, with slight modifications, as the centrepiece of the common room in "Viking House", the newly built independent youth hostel here. Most of the above-ground remains were demolished after recording but hopefully in the distant future the full ground plan will be established from the foundations sealed beneath the concrete raft of the new buildings.

On the adjacent burgage plot to the west a later stone wall containing the remains of two splayed window loops abutted the side wall containing the fireplace. Further walls of similar build were subsequently found underneath their modern replacements but it was impossible to fully reconstruct their pattern. Original beam slots on the outer face of the earlier building suggested that they had replaced an earlier lean-to structure. A date in the 17th century is suggested for the secondary system of walls.

(ii) Excavations
Since the new buildings were erected on concrete raft foundations, very little archaeological stratigraphy was threatened, except where drains were to be laid.

Area A: This was a sewer trench 15.2m long x 0.7m wide running along the side of a narrow passageway. The trench was dug to a maximum depth of 1.3m below the modern concrete surface without encountering the natural subsoil. The remains of at least three phases of early walls and a gateway, 1.5m south of the present northern frontage, were recorded. The walls, with one possible exception, appeared to date to the early post-medieval period and their layout indicated that the passageway linking Coffee House Lane to Chair Lane was of a respectable antiquity. The walls were not removed and the contractors re-arranged their plans so that the sewer pipe should not disturb them.

Area B: This was a cutting for a grease-trap, 0.9m x 1m in area x 0.5m deep. Part of a hearth setting of closely packed stones, probably of 17th-century date, was revealed here.

(iii) Finds
Area A produced a fairly large assemblage of the commoner types of medieval pottery but these appear to have been imported along with material used as land-fill at a later date. A very few fragments of 14th-century tile, early brick and coal from the lower levels suggested a post-Reformation date for all but one of the walls.

The assemblage from Area B was two small for positive dating but a fragment of yellow brick in the hearth setting may indicate a date in the 17th century.

Note: It may be of interest that in Waterford, until early in 1993 when public pressure ensured the archaeological (architectural) recording of a Tudor house prior to demolition, there was no adequate mechanism to deal with non-listed standing buildings. Since then the Corporation has amended its planning procedures so that early structures are to be properly investigated if threatened by demolition.

26 William St., Waterford