1995:257 - CLONMEL: Main Guard, 1–2 O'Connell St. and No. 19 Mitchell St., Tipperary

An archaeological trial excavation was carried out on the site in December 1994. Owing to the results of that excavation it was to decided to carry out further work in mid-1995. The excavation commenced on 10 July 1995 and was completed on 22 September following a two-week break.

The excavation works were carried out in conjunction with the conservation and restoration project that is presently being undertaken at the Main Guard. The Main Guard, an impressive rectangular building, is located in the heart of Clonmel.

It is one of the earliest surviving, albeit in a derelict state, civic buildings in Ireland. James Butler, 12th Earl and first Duke of Ormond, ordered the construction of the new court- house in the first half of the 1670s. The new court-house housed the Palatinate Courts for County Tipperary. Following the demise of the Palatinate Courts, the Main Guard was used as a Tholsel and Assize Courts from c. 1716 to 1802. It is believed that the Assize Courts stood to the rear of the Main Guard, i.e. in the return block which extended eastwards to the rear of the front building. The site of the return block is the location of much of the excavation.

The trial excavation confirmed the existence of a burial- ground immediately to the rear of the main building. Its discovery was not an unexpected find. The Main Guard was built in the north-west corner of the medieval Franciscan friary precinct. A total of eight burials were found during the trial excavation. A further 21 burials were found during the 1995 excavation. The human remains occurred at depths of between 0.7m and 1.3m below modern ground level. All of the burials were interred in unmarked pits and there was no evidence remaining to suggest the use of coffins. All were on an east-west axis, with the heads to the west in nearly all cases. Several of the skeletons were partially disturbed and a large quantity of disarticulated bones was found.

The disturbance of the human remains can be accounted for by the building activity that occurred on the site during the late 1600s-the construction of the Main Guard-and the subsequent subdivision of the return block and the erection of new buildings in the 1800s. The majority of the remains were adult and both male and female bones were present. No datable finds were recovered with the skeletons. However, it is possible to conclude that the burials pre-dated the construction of the return block section of the Main Guard, i.e. the 1670s. It was likely that the burial-ground was in use from the time of the foundation of the Franciscan friary in 1269. The historical records indicate that the burial-ground remained in use following the dissolution of the friary in 1540. The church and graveyard were granted to the citizens of Clonmel after the Dissolution and remained in use for some time, probably until the ground was acquired for the construction of the Main Guard in the early 1670s.

The outline of the return block to the main building was confirmed during the excavation. A number of walls were found to pre-date the construction of the Main Guard. One of the walls was found along the southern perimeter of the site. It underlay and pre-dated the southern wall of the return block. It was only possible to expose part of the wall. Its location and the fact that it pre-dates the Main Guard suggests that the wall was associated with a Franciscan building. Another wall, pre-dating the Main Guard, was found along the northern perimeter of the site and along the street front. The wall, L-shaped, may have been the remains of a medieval house fronting Mitchell St. The historical records indicate that land was given by the Franciscans to the townspeople to erect houses along the parts of their property that fronted the streets.

1 Jervis Place, Clonmel, Co .Tipperary