2002:1001 - JERPOINT ABBEY, Kilkenny

Monitoring was carried out of a 20m-long foundation trench at Jerpoint Abbey. The foundation trench was required to raise the existing retaining wall flanking the roadside, extending from the west gate of the abbey to the modern entrance facilitating the visitors’ centre. The retaining wall stood 1.6m above the flanking roadside and did not extend above the level of the graveyard itself. To satisfy safety concerns, it was necessary to raise the wall. The foundation trench (0.4–0.45m wide; 0.4–0.5m deep) was dug immediately inside the retaining wall. It had been anticipated that this trench might impinge on the graveyard mound: the nearest headstone stands only 1.5m inside this wall. However, it became clear that demolition material, including mortar, stone rubble and gravel, had been dumped immediately behind the retaining wall at the time of its construction. The origin of this material may have been the complex of farmhouses that once stood to the south-west of the abbey. The foundation trench was cut into this material only and therefore had no impact on the graveyard mound, and no features or artefacts of an archaeological nature were identified.

Dún Scéine, Harcourt Lane, Dublin 2