County: Kerry Site name: TRALEE: Market Place
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 29:119 Licence number: 99E0179
Author: Laurence Dunne, Eachtra Archaeological Projects
Site type: Furnace
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 483525m, N 614613m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.270862, -9.706640
Monitoring of ground disturbance works associated with the demolition of an existing building and the construction of a shop and store was conducted at the southern side of the present-day Market Street, Tralee. The development is within the area of archaeological potential for the medieval town of Tralee. The market was moved to this location in the 1840s, where it remained until recent years.
Upon the discovery during monitoring of a cobbled surface and what appeared to be the truncated remains of the bowl and flue of a furnace, an excavation licence was applied for.
A 3.5m area around the furnace was cleaned. This revealed that the flue ran under the site boundary. Both the furnace and the flue exiting from it were severely truncated, and the fill averaged just 0.02m deep. The fills produced no material that could indicate the function and/or date of the furnace. Some fragmentary pieces of charcoal were discovered at the base but were insufficient to obtain a 14C date. A large, heat-altered limestone on the southern edge of the furnace may have functioned as a standing platform.
Although the lack of finds or datable material makes dating the furnace difficult, the depth at which it was found and its location within the remains of a burgess plot would seem to indicate that the structure is related to medieval activity in Tralee.
3 Canal Place, Tralee, Co. Kerry
