2000:0990 - SHANDON, Dungarvan, Waterford

The site of the proposed development is located in the townland of Shandon, north of Dungarvan town, Co. Waterford. A recorded monument (31:41), which is listed as a Penal church, lies within the proposed development site; however, no surface trace of this monument survives. A 17th-century dwelling, Shandon House, once stood at the site but has since been demolished. The area north of the house was quarried in the 19th century, and this resulted in the destruction of a cave in which remains of animal bones, including mammoth, reindeer, wolf and bear, were recovered. The name Shandon, which means old fort, suggests that an earlier settlement existed close to the house. The recovery of a fine Hiberno-Norse bone trial-piece of 10th-century date, during quarrying on the Shandon promontory, has also suggested the possibility of an earlier settlement here.

A contour survey of the area in the vicinity of Shandon House was carried out in July 2000 in an attempt to highlight the hard landscaping gardens associated with the 17th-century house. A geomagnetic survey was also carried out at the same time over the entire development site in an attempt to locate and define any trace of previous settlement. This survey detected several anomalies in the area around the house. These consisted of four linear features: the first (40m long) extended in a north–south direction; the second (52m long) extended in an east–west direction; the third (40m long) extended in an east–west direction; and the fourth (50m long) extended from the southern field boundary in a south-westerly to north-easterly direction. Three of the linear features terminated at a rectangular feature, 40m long by 14m wide. North-west of this, two square features (c. 6m2) were detected. To the east of the site, in the area of SMR 31:41, a rectangular feature 9m by 20m was detected. This possibly represents the location of the Penal church. The large rectangular feature may represent earlier buildings at the site, while the linear features may represent drains, paths or field boundaries. The square features may represent flowerbeds or may have some association with the garden at Shandon House. However, the significance of these anomalies has yet to be determined, and it is recommended that they be tested prior to development.

Archaeological monitoring of topsoil-stripping in advance of the construction of a service road in the southern part of the site was carried out from 13 to 19 October 2000. This exposed an east–west-aligned ditch of modern date in the western area of the site and a roughly coursed limestone rubble wall of probable 18th-century date extending parallel to and south of the ditch. The wall was 0.65m wide and 0.4m deep; c. 23m of it was exposed during the stripping. This wall probably represents part of a garden wall or boundary feature associated with Shandon House or the later dwelling that was constructed after the original house was demolished. The above-mentioned ditch was detected during the geophysical survey, and an anomaly aligned north-east to south-west, also detected during the geophysical survey, proved to be a plastic water pipe of no archaeological significance. No other features or deposits were encountered during the course of archaeological monitoring of the proposed service road.