County: Clare Site name: ENNIS
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 33:82 Licence number: 00E0150
Author: Niall Gregory
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 533397m, N 677846m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.847426, -8.988738
Test excavations were carried out on this site between 8 and 11 May 2000 to ascertain the nature of potential archaeology, prior to the construction of a multi-storey carpark. The site is located within the recognised archaeologically sensitive area of the medieval town. Test-trenches were machine-dug with a flat bucket. Two large, modern warehouses were assessed and their demolition monitored. Three walls formed the southern boundary of the site, for which permission was granted to demolish a relatively modern gable wall under licensed monitoring. This wall had been identified during the initial assessment as post-dating 1840.
Removal of Building 1 (the easternmost warehouse) revealed sections of east–west-running walls. Wall 2 (a gable wall) consisted of two sections. All sections of Wall 4 were composed of angular to sub-angular limestone and bonded with mortar.
During test excavations, debris from the removal of Building 2 on the southern side of the site had not been removed and thus impeded testing. The test-trenches did not reveal artefacts or structures of an archaeological nature. All extant walls that impeded the development were relatively modern. These were removed under archaeological supervision after recording.
Flat 1, Main Street, Blessington, Co. Wicklow
