County: Kerry Site name: TRALEE: Social Welfare Local Office, Prince's Quay
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 29:119 Licence number: 97E0270
Author: Isabel Bennett
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 483375m, N 614353m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.268495, -9.708747
Test excavation prior to a proposed extension took place at this site, which is close to the site of the former Dominican friary in Tralee. Owing to difficulty of access to the area being developed, as the remainder of the building is still in use, two hand-dug test-pits, rather than a machine-dug trench, were opened. These were at the northern and southern ends of where the development was to take place, measured 1.2m north-south by 1.8m east-west, and lay 13.5m from each other.
The proposed depth of foundations for the extension is 1.2m below present ground level, and nothing of archaeological interest was found in either pit to this depth. A basement is to be inserted to a depth of 2.4m at the northern end, and it was only possible to test this area to 1.7m owing to flooding and the presence of service pipes of the still-occupied building, but nothing of significance was found to that depth in an area which has suffered quite an amount of disturbance to date.
Glen Fahan, Ventry, Tralee, Co. Kerry
