County: Wexford Site name: WEXFORD: Former cinema, Georges St. Upper
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 37:012005 Licence number: 94E0157
Author: Dave Pollock
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 704527m, N 622050m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.340088, -6.466031
In October and November 1994 several exploratory trenches were opened ahead of development north of Wexford town wall between the priory gatetower and Georges St. Upper.
A cultivation soil over much of the area was associated with medieval pottery; the topography of the soil suggests a gentle slope downhill to the town wall. A single shelf cut into the hillside represents small-scale terracing, and a few shallow ditches represent medieval land division and drainage abandoned below later fields.
A stream or drain crossing the middle of the site was infilled with stones (field clearance) and overlain with late medieval cultivation soil. A cluster of features damaged by cultivation on the north side of the hollow included the likely corner of a mud-floored wicker building. The wall of the building would have followed the steep outer edge of a shallow curvilinear hollow. A patch of shale abutted the wall line from the outside, stone-free silt from the inside. A small sherd of medieval pottery was recovered from the silt.
Rathduff, Fethard, Co. Tipperary (for ADS Ltd.)
