County: Tipperary Site name: CASHEL: 44–46 Main Street/Lower Gate Square
Sites and Monuments Record No.: RMP 61:25 Licence number: 00E0169
Author: Mary O’Donnell, Archaeological Services Unit, University College Cork
Site type: Town defences
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 607427m, N 640499m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.515822, -7.890564
The site is located to the rear of Nos 44–46 Main Street and Lower Gate Square, Cashel, Co. Tipperary. The remains of the town wall extend north–south through the centre of a proposed hotel development. A c. 50m stretch of the town wall has survived to a height of c. 0.9–5m above ground in the southern part of the site.
The site was test-trenched in March 2000, prior to the start of the development, and monitoring of groundworks continued intermittently from April to July 2000. Work on the site was suspended in October 2000 but is due to restart in 2001.
Part of the site on the inside of the town wall was partially excavated by Sarah Stevens in 1990 (Excavations 1990, 51), and the ground level on the site was then reduced by 1–2m. The results from the two test-trenches opened in this area indicated that all archaeological deposits had been removed. This was confirmed during the subsequent archaeological monitoring on the site.
Four trenches were excavated on the outside of the town wall: two at right angles to the wall to test for the presence of a fosse, and two in the centre of the area. There was no evidence for a fosse associated with the wall, although the original ground level sloped down from west to east. There was a thin deposit just above the natural in this area, which contained fragments of red brick. Above this was 0.75m of garden soil, containing wine bottle fragments and tin-glazed earthenware towards the base.
