County: Wexford Site name: WEXFORD: George St. area
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 95E0087
Author: Dermot G. Moore, ADS Ltd.
Site type: Town defences
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 704527m, N 622050m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.340088, -6.466031
The brief was to monitor and investigate the nature and extent of any archaeological deposits, especially evidence of a ditch, within a new drainage trench which was excavated parallel to the front of the medieval town wall. The monitoring took place on 2 and 3 May 1995. This trench was 70m long and 0.5m wide and extended from the front of the West Gate southwards.
The depth of the trench at the West Gate is 1.6m below present ground level (12.35m OD) and increases to 2.6m at its southern end below present ground level (13.85m OD).
In general, there were no archaeological deposits earlier than the post-medieval period. Below the present gravel path the deposits are relatively uniform and modern, with 19th- and 20th-century debris with a black humic deposit. These modern deposits overlie a probably redeposited sterile orange clay, which in turn overlies a slaty natural boulder clay.
The last 8m of the trench at its southern end contains a large cut which has a series of disturbed deposits within it. These deposits comprise modern domestic refuse and rubble. There was also a set of thin horizontal layers within this cut which appear to be the result of trying to level the ground surface.
It is possible that this cut line may have been the edge of a drain or stream outlet running to a culvert which in turn ran under the wall.
No ditch was evident from the trench section but this may have been due to the trench running parallel to the wall and the approx. line of the ditch. It is possible that the black humic deposit, albeit modern, is part of a modern infilling of the ditch.
31 Chlorine Gardens, Belfast BT9 5DL
