County: Kerry Site name: TRALEE: Lower Abbey Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0263
Author: Laurence Dunne, Eachtra Archaeological Projects
Site type: Religious house - Dominican friars
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 483498m, N 614323m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.268254, -9.706939
This test excavation was carried out in advance of the construction of a commercial unit at Abbey Court, Lower Abbey Street, Tralee. The site lies within the zone of archaeological potential for Tralee and is near the site of the Dominican Priory. This priory was established in 1243 and was suppressed sometime before 1580. There are no above-ground remains surviving today.
Recent test excavations by Martin Byrne, in the UDC (Abbey) carpark area that adjoins this development site, revealed in situ human skeletal remains, possible church foundations and fragments of masonry (Excavations 1997, 87, 97E0232).
Two areas were selected for excavation within the proposed development site. The work was carried out with the aid of a mechanical digger and by hand. In Area 1 a trench 4m east-west x 1.6m was opened in the western section of the site. A very substantial wall, possibly dating to the medieval period, running north-east/south-west and c. 1.2m wide, was recorded in the base of the trench. The trench was not excavated any further upon exposure of the wall. The wall consisted of medium and large unhewn pieces of limestone laid horizontally and set in clay; no mortar was recorded. Two layers of silty clay, which included fragments of bone and charcoal, had accumulated above the remains of the wall. A layer of cobbles dating to the 18th/19th century had been laid on the surface of the silty clay. The layers above the cobbles were all modern deposits.
A trench 5m north-south x 2m was opened in Area 2 in the eastern section of the site. A number of structural features were uncovered in the trench. Two 18th/19th-century wall sections exposed in the trench were left in situ. A third, more substantial wall, running north-south, was exposed at the base of the trench. This wall consisted of medium and large pieces of limestone laid horizontally, similar in fabric and construction to the wall in Area 1. However, the wall was only partially exposed to a maximum width of 0.8m, as it ran under the baulk of the trench. It appears that this wall runs at right angles to the wall in Area 1 and may be its return. Layers of silt overlay the wall and underlay 18th/ 19th-century demolition fill/deposits.
The walls probably represent the basal or lower remnants of the south-east range of the Dominican Abbey. As the two exposed sections are running at right angles to one another, it is likely that they reflect the same structure. No batter or dressed architectural fragments were recovered or revealed. No human remains were found. Archaeological stratigraphy is present at a minimum of 1.1m in the test excavation areas. However, it is possible that further archaeological remains are present in the development site at higher levels.
43 Ard Carraig, Tralee, Co. Kerry
