County: Wexford Site name: THE QUAY, New Ross
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0151
Author: Martin E. Byrne
Site type: Town defences
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 671597m, N 627378m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.393255, -6.948039
An archaeological evaluation was undertaken at a development site located at The Quay, New Ross, on 3 and 4 August 2000. The work was undertaken in compliance with a condition included in the granting of planning with respect to the development of the site. The site lies immediately outside the assumed line of the riverside Anglo-Norman town wall in an area of reclaimed ground.
Removal of existing buildings on the site revealed the presence of the partial extant remains of a round turret or wall tower, as well as possible remains of the town wall. An extension to this wall was constructed in the mid-17th century, and the subsurface remains of this were intersected by one of the trial-trenches.
Twelve trial-trenches were mechanically excavated. A layer of silt, with a maximum thickness of 0.3m, was uncovered in all of the trenches at a depth ranging from 1.9m to 2.2m, below which was marl. Some occasional fragments of wood, animal bone and oyster shell were recovered from the layer of silt. The remaining stratigraphy consisted of various layers of gravel and shale fill, confirming that the site had been reclaimed from the river. In one trench the remains of a stone and mortar wall were uncovered. This was c. 0.83m wide and 0.95m high; the top of the wall was 1.33m below the present ground surface. The nature and location of this feature appear to indicate that it is the subsurface remains of the mid-17th-century extension to the original town wall.
Monitoring of specific areas of the site, during construction works, will be carried out in 2001.
31 Millford, Athgarvan, Co. Kildare
