1998:666 - FERNS: Main Street, Wexford

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Wexford Site name: FERNS: Main Street

Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 15:3 Licence number: 98E0273

Author: Florence M. Hurley

Site type: Castle - Anglo-Norman masonry castle

Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)

ITM: E 702019m, N 649789m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.589799, -6.494344

Archaeological assessment of a site in Main Street (Castleland), Ferns, was carried out over two days in June 1998. The site lies immediately north of Ferns Castle and extends right up to the north-east tower. The proposed development would have been built virtually up against the ruined tower. Previous excavations by Sweetman (PRIA 79C, 1979) had revealed a large fosse, mostly rock-cut, on the southern and eastern sides of the castle. Testing found that construction of the previous buildings on the site had removed all of the soils down to bedrock, a distance of 10m back from the street front. The bedrock drops sharply downwards here. This may be partly due to a sewer pipe running across the site along this area.

The other half of the site showed areas of disturbance, with much modern rubble present. The area closest to the north-east tower had been completely disturbed by the insertion of an engine pit from the mechanic's workshop that formerly stood there. This disturbance extended down to the bedrock, 1.43m below present ground level. This pit is built right up to where the edge of the north-east tower should be; however, no trace of this was found.

The south-western corner of the site produced the clearest evidence of archaeological activity. Here the bedrock dropped away quite sharply to a depth of almost 1.5m below ground level. Given that bedrock is c. 1m above ground level in the base of the north-east tower, this is a considerable drop in height and, taken with the position of the bedrock in the centre of the site, suggests that the fosse, already found on two sides of the castle, is present here also. There was 1m of fill in the fosse comprising varying brown, sandy and silty clays. All of these were sterile with the exception of the uppermost one, which produced two sherds of blackware. Sweetman found the fosse around the castle to be at its widest (6m) on its eastern side. No sign of a southern edge of the fosse was uncovered during the testing. The break in the bedrock where the sewer pipe crosses the site may be associated with a possible northern edge. If so, then the fosse would be at least 9m wide. It would also be shallower than that found on the eastern side of the castle. There it was at least 5m deep, here it is only 2–3m deep.

The layout of the development was altered as a result of the testing, with further monitoring of construction taking place.

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