County: Waterford Site name: WATERFORD: Olympia Ballroom, Parnell Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 9:5 Licence number: 99E0273
Author: Maurice F. Hurley
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 460681m, N 812510m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.256667, -7.129167
The site was tested on 5 June 1999. It is within the zone of archaeological potential of Waterford City but outside the medieval city wall of Waterford, in an area that was largely a marsh until the post-medieval period, when it was laid out in gardens. The earliest recorded buildings outside the walls in this area are of late 18th-century date, at a time when the wall was extended westwards to form Parnell Street. At that time the city wall was breached.
Three trial-trenches were excavated to a depth of 2.3m. All revealed a similar profile: mortar and red brick rubble c. 1m deep, overlying estuarine silt without any apparent internal stratification.
The earliest datable material apparent on the site was contained in the upper rubble fill and was of 19th-century date. Before this the entire area seems to have been an uninhabited marsh. The evidence for an absence of settlement in the area is in accordance with that of the historical maps.
312 Bruach na Laoi, Union Quay, Cork
