County: Wexford Site name: WEXFORD: South Main St./North Main St.
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 95E0254
Author: Cathy Sheehan, Archaeological Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 704769m, N 622019m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.339763, -6.462491
Archaeological monitoring of the Wexford Main Drainage scheme continued through 1977.
South Main Street (King Street to Bride Street junctions)
A series of single post-and-wattle walls, roughly in line with the modern property boundaries and parallel with the present Main Street, were exposed during excavation for the water main trench (located on the west side of the street). Five street-fronting houses were represented in total. In two instances internal divisions were apparent, consisting of central aisle walls with associated earthfast roof supports. Floors of clay and subfloors of sand and gravel were common to all but one. Evidence for reflooring was also noted. Associated pottery dates from the late 12th to the mid-13th century (C. McCutcheon, pers. comm.).
South Main Street (Bride Street to Peter Street junctions)
The sewer line was laid on the east side of the street. Stratigraphy revealed that this area was subject to tidal inundation. About 1.7m below the present ground level there was extensive evidence for medieval land reclamation and subsequent consolidation. Revetting consisted mainly of post-and-wattle fences, in some cases reinforced on the seaward side with horizontally laid planks. Instances of earthfast upright timbers (sharpened planks, vertically set posts) and horizontally laid wattle screens were also recorded. These attempts to reclaim and stabilise land were recorded intermittently over a distance of 64m in line with present-day Main Street. Reclamation involved the dumping of large deposits of domestic rubbish, alternating periodically with layers of flood material.
Overlying the revetments (at c. 1.34–1.4m below the present ground level) a substantial paved street surface was recorded for an uninterrupted length of over 30m. The paving was set in a layer of bedding sand. Additional foundation support in the form of horizontally laid wattle screens was evident in some areas. Associated pottery dates from the mid-13th century (C. McCutcheon, pers. comm.). Two layers of resurfacing were recorded.
North Main Street (from the Bull Ring to the junction with Monck Street)
The stratigraphy for this section of North Main Street revealed a pattern similar to that of South Main Street, with revetments aligned along the medieval seashore. The town was also expanding northwards—indicated by a sequence of large, vertically set posts and timbers which were recorded at right angles to the shoreline. These were stabilising reclaimed land. Also recorded was an overlying street surface, comparable in date and appearance to that of South Main Street. In this instance, however, survival of the paving was not continuous, being truncated by existing services.
Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Fairview, Dublin 3
