2002:1768 - TIPPERARY: Blind Street (Carrownreddy), Tipperary

An archaeological impact assessment was prepared from October to December 2002 before the construction of a housing development on the western side of Blind Street, Tipperary. As part of this assessment, a series of trial cuttings, each measuring c. 6m by 1m, was excavated. The site is near the eastern limit of the conjectural outline of the medieval walled town of Tipperary, c. 50m north of Main Street. The development area comprised two conjoined rectangular plots, measuring c. 44m (north–south) by c. 35m in total. The larger area of the site was a walled garden, aligned north–south, dating from c. 1800; a garage had been built onto the eastern side of this in the 1950s. A large stretch of the western wall of the garden was demolished at some point in the 19th century. In addition, the northern end wall of the garden was destroyed by the building of a cement-block warehouse. The full extent of the garden was available for testing, but the garage property, though scheduled for demolition, was off-limits at the time of the assessment. On the western side of the garden was a back-yard area, midway between Blind Street and St Michael’s Street, containing some cement-block sheds, as well as the remains of a limestone dwelling-house and a limestone wall, both of late 19th-century date.

Cuttings 1 to 6 were excavated within the limits of the walled garden. Nothing of archaeological interest was revealed in any of them. The investigation indicated that the ground level in the enclosed area had been raised fairly substantially with large volumes of imported grey/brown clay. This imported material was sealed below a thick layer of more recently deposited black garden soil. Cuttings 7 and 10 revealed the foundation remains of the demolished western wall of the garden (F7). A substantial amount of 19th-century foundation masonry was also exposed in Cutting 7 on the western side of the F7 line. Cutting 8 could not be excavated owing to lack of space. Cutting 9, c. 8m west of the walled garden, revealed a number of features broadly datable to the 19th century: a small pit, a probable post-hole, foundation masonry and two large rubbish pits. Further testing on the site before development is not warranted, but groundworks during the early stages of construction will be monitored.

17 Vartry Close, Raheen, Co. Limerick