County: Laois Site name: PORTLAOISE: Old County Infirmary
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1743
Author: Miriam Carroll, Archaeological Services Unit Ltd.
Site type: Hospital
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 647032m, N 698245m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.032812, -7.298793
Testing was carried out in the grounds of the Old County Infirmary, Portlaoise, as part of an assessment before the development of the site. The infirmary dates to the 19th century and is thought to have been the first purpose-built hospital in Ireland outside Dublin. The grounds were also used as a County Council depot/yard in recent years.
Thirteen trenches were excavated. Material relating to the use of the hospital was uncovered in several trenches and generally consisted of a dark brown fill with frequent inclusions of 19th- and 20th-century glass and pottery in the form of medicine bottles, jars etc. A layer of peat was uncovered in four trenches to the south and south-west of the hospital. The peat layer was found to underlie the 19th-/20th-century fill at 3–3.8m below present ground level. Pieces of wood were noted in the peat, and it is possible that this layer contains structures or artefacts of archaeological significance. No diagnostic finds were recovered, however, and no remains of archaeological significance were found in the trenches excavated in the remainder of the site.
Department of Archaeology, University College Cork
