2000:0987 - DUNGARVAN: O’Connell Street, Waterford

An archaeological assessment was carried out on the site of a proposed commercial development at O’Connell Street, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, on 23 August 2000. It is proposed to construct a supermarket extension with offices and storage at first-floor level at Western Terrace/O’Connell Street, Dungarvan. It is also proposed to alter the frontage and signs at O’Connell Street, to demolish an existing shed-type structure at Keating Street and to provide a new carpark. The entrance of the existing carpark at Western Terrace will also be modified.

Two trenches were excavated in an east–west direction in the area of the proposed extension to the supermarket. The site consists of a carparking area with a tarmac surface. The trenches averaged 20m in length, although they were not continuous because the concrete floor of a pre-existing building prevented excavation along certain sections of the trench. Trench 1, the more northerly, was 0.8m wide and 1.3m deep (max.). Trench 2 had a maximum width and depth of 0.8m. The excavation revealed that the eastern part of the site was greatly disturbed, with the tarmac surface overlying a brown, sandy clay rubble, which contained redbrick fragments and stone and extended to a depth of 1m. Below this rubble a black, silty mortar layer was evident, also containing fragments of red brick, which extended to a depth of 1.3m. This directly overlay the natural, an orange, marl-like clay.

Further west along the trenches a redbrick floor measuring 0.05m in depth overlay a concrete surface, below which a loose, brown, sandy, silty clay was evident. This overlay the boulder clay, which was evident at a depth of 0.5m. For the most part boulder clay was evident in the western part of the site at a depth of 0.5m and in the eastern part of the site at a depth of 1.3m. It would appear that the eastern part of the site was disturbed by previous building activity and that ground level was built up in this area of the site. By comparison, the western part of the site remained virtually undisturbed, with the exception of the concrete floor, which was cut into the boulder clay. No features of archaeological significance were encountered during the assessment, and no finds were recovered.

The excavation of two test-trenches at this site failed to reveal any evidence of archaeological stratigraphy. The eastern part of the site is more disturbed, but it is also possible that ground level was made up in this area. The rubble fill that extended to a depth of almost 1m may represent material from the demolition of previous buildings at this site or material that was transported onto the site. The subsoil is evident at a depth of 1.3m to the east, while it is much closer to the surface to the west at a depth of 0.5m. The concrete floor of the previous building extends over the western area of the site, but it is obvious that when this floor was constructed it cut into the natural boulder clay, thus removing any possible archaeological deposits that may have existed. As the archaeological assessment failed to reveal the presence of archaeological stratigraphy at this site, further archaeological work for the proposed extension is not deemed necessary.

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