County: Kilkenny Site name: CALLAN: Tinnanamoona, Chapel Lane
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0232
Author: Jo Moran, ArchaeoGrafix
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 641237m, N 643894m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.544821, -7.392033
An archaeological assessment was requested to provide additional information ahead of granting planning permission for a proposed housing development at Tinnanamoona, on the edge of Callan. The site was a field between the line of the inner town wall and the line of an outer defence (on a map of 1681).
Four trenches were opened, and two boundary walls (on the lines of the town walls) were recorded. There were no visible remains of the medieval town walls (or fosses) around any side of the site.
The excavation of test-trenches against the east and south boundary walls and in the footprint of the proposed houses suggests that the field was never occupied by town suburbs. The outer defence on the 1681 map would have enclosed green fields.
An infilled ditch c. 2m wide was uncovered close to (and below) the south boundary, on the line of the outer defence, but with no sign of an upcast bank in the field. The ditch may have been a defensive trench with a bank upcast on the outside but is more likely to have been an open field drain or a roadside drain. The town defence may be completely obscured by the present road.
The trench against the east boundary wall, on the line of the inner defence, uncovered a ditch close to the wall. An upcast bank may be under and beyond the wall. The ditch was exposed but not excavated, and no finds were recovered.
A large hollow intercepted in the south-east corner of the site with a burnt clay edge, infilled with recent material, is likely to be associated with quarrying and industrial activity. Further excavation ahead of the development and monitoring of groundworks was recommended by Dúchas.
Church Lane, Stradbally, Co. Waterford
