County: Wexford Site name: WEXFORD: George's Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 96E0208
Author: Cia McConway, Archaeological Development Services Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 704427m, N 621850m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.338310, -6.467560
Site assessment, Phase 1
The site fronts onto Upper George's Street, which lies within the zone of archaeological interest. It is situated close to the West Gate, to a priory precinct of St Selskar which lies to the north of the site, and to the medieval town itself.
The first assessment was carried out on 23 July and ten trenches were opened up over the 60% of the site which was available for testing.
Three trenches were opened up in the north-west corner of the site in an area of heavy scrub. A layer of red brick-flecked garden soil, averaging 0.5m in depth, overlay the natural boulder clay here.
The remaining seven trenches were opened up in areas of recently demolished buildings, where it was discovered that foundation walls and cellars had severely reduced the ground level and consequently had cut into natural boulder clay. Some areas of the brick-flecked garden soil survived, again directly overlying natural and in turn being overlain by a substantial depth of twentieth-century infill.
A large concrete foundation for an oil rank, some 7m x 11m, was located in the far northern corner of the site and had cutdeeply into the natural boulder clay.
Phase 2
A second assessment was carried out to test the south-eastern area, which had not been available for testing first time round.
This was carried out on 2 August 1996.
Two long trenches were opened up, revealing modern foundation walls associated with the recently demolished building cutting into the natural subsoil with twentieth-century infill.
The site was not archaeologically significant.
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