2001:1247 - WATERFORD: Butcher’s Lane, Waterford

The laneway is east of the junction between Newgate Street and Barracks Street. The corporation wishes to build local authority housing on the site, presently occupied by a derelict prefabricated building. The area lies outside the city wall, adjacent to the French Tower, one of the extant mural towers of Waterford. The area was once a common green, Fahastoogeen, which is likely to have meant ‘the green of the little corn stooks’, a name deriving from the adjoining area traditionally known as the ‘Barley fields’ (Dowling 1998). In the 1850s there were twenty houses and a poorhouse in this lane, but these were demolished and cleared by the corporation in the 1990s.

The findings of the test-trenches testified to the post-demolition clearance. The tarmac was removed to reveal a layer of industrial fill (crushed stone) overlying shale bedrock. No archaeological finds or features survived. In the south of the site the overburden was slightly deeper, dipping toward the city wall. The natural slope of the terrain may explain this, but as a precaution monitoring during site clearance was recommended.

Reference
Dowling, D. 1998 Waterford streets past and present. Waterford.

7 Bayview, Tramore, Co. Waterford