1999:819 - CASHEL: Collier's Lane, Tipperary

The development of a site at Collier's Lane, Cashel, required an archaeological assessment. The site is close to the Dominican priory (founded in 1243) and is just outside the walled town. A number of small structures were shown along the lane frontage in the first edition OS map, but all of these have since been removed, and the site was covered by grass.

Eight trenches were opened. A brown, clayey silt, humic soil (a 'garden soil', the product of continuous cultivation over a long period) covered the site, varying in depth from 0.15m in the north-east corner to 1.2m along the southern side of the site. Twenty possible archaeological features were found. These were either cut into this material or covered by it. Four of these produced post-medieval or modern finds. Three produced medieval finds, and the remainder produced no finds. The majority were linear features aligned north-south. Most were 0.35–0.5m wide. Three were noticeably larger, although two of these, aligned north-south in Trenches 1 and 5, may be part of the same feature. The section in Trench 1 was excavated, revealing a V-shaped cut, 1m deep and 3.1m wide. This produced local medieval ware. The feature found in Trench 6 was similar in size but was aligned east-west.

In the south-west corner of the site a shallow pit was found beneath the garden soil. Where exposed, this measured c. 3.4m by 2m. It contained four fills, the latest a brown, clayey silt, producing seventeen sherds of medieval pottery and a hone stone. Underneath this lay two charcoal-rich deposits, the upper one containing a mixture of burnt soil and redeposited subsoil, and the lower one composed almost exclusively of charcoal. These lay over a spread of small and medium-sized sub-angular pieces of limestone.

Given that the Dominican priory is so close, that these lands most likely belonged to that order, and that they are known to have houses and gardens close to the abbey, it is most likely that these linear features are the drainage ditches that marked out these gardens and fields. It is noticeable that in all editions of the 6-inch Ordnance Survey map of the area the site is shown as being empty except for a series of small houses or sheds fronting part of Collier's Lane.

The large pit in the south-west corner of the site may also be connected to the priory. The unweathered and angular nature of the stone fill suggests that it may come from one of the periods of refurbishment of the abbey. The priory was substantially rebuilt after a fire in c. 1480. The layer of burning may be associated with that event, and the stone may be waste dumped out in the fields surrounding the abbey.

As a result of the work undertaken above, Dúchas recommended that monitoring of the removal of the topsoil and garden soil take place. During this a cobbled surface, a circular cut feature and a linear cut feature were uncovered at the southern edge of the site. Part of a post-medieval stoneware vessel and clay pipe fragments were found stratified above the cobbling. As these lay c. 0.7m beneath the proposed finished ground surface, they were left in situ after being recorded and covered in geotextile. These are likely to be associated with the six tenements in the priory precinct mentioned in the Dissolution account.

The areas where house foundations cut into archaeological features were monitored and hand-excavated. A total of 374 sherds of medieval pottery and 58 sherds of post-medieval pottery came from the garden soil.

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