2002:1791 - SHANDON, Dungarvan, Waterford

A long-term programme of assessment was part of a scheme of investigation and resolution carried out for the development of lands at Shandon townland, Dungarvan, for low-cost housing by the National Building Agency and Waterford County Council. Archaeologically, the townland of Shandon has high potential. A removed cave site (SMR 31:68) in the north of the townland produced animal bone, including mammoth, reindeer, wolf and bear. A burial-ground (SMR 31:40(08)) was close to the development. Cartographic evidence indicates the possible presence of a Penal church (SMR 31:41) in the general location of the site of Shandon House. Shandon House was possibly a 17th-century structure that was replaced by a farmhouse in the 19th century, which was recently demolished; a large mound of rubble stone to the east of a well-built stone barn marks the location of the house. The topographical files of the National Museum contain records of many finds from the townland.

Monitoring and excavation during Phases 1 and 2 of this development uncovered evidence of medieval activity, including a ditch-enclosed settlement at the promontory in the north of the townland, which may be Late Viking Age or Anglo-Norman in date (Emer Dennehy, Excavations 2001, No. 1242; Stuart Elder, No. 1790, Excavations 2002). Most of this material was preserved in situ, and, because of the need to maximise the remaining ground for the required housing density for the project, it was proposed that the remainder of the site be tested. Testing of the exclusion zone around the site of Shandon House was also sanctioned.

The area was extensively tested by a track machine followed by a cleaning crew, using a herringbone arrangement of trenches similar to that employed on road schemes. The ground for testing was designated Area 1, and Shandon House Area 2.

Four areas requiring resolution were uncovered during testing of Area 1. In Trench 1, Cross-trench E2, a charcoal-rich spread was found, measuring 1.6m north–south by 0.9m. It was composed of clayey silt with occasional small stones. In Trench 2 a keyhole-shaped feature with two main fills was uncovered. It measured 1.3m north-north-west/ south-south-east by 0.42m. The north-north-west end has been burnt in situ and comprised dark brown/black, clayey silt with frequently occurring charcoal flecks and burnt stone. In Cross-trench W4 a roughly circular patch of charcoal-rich soil adjacent to two patches of mid-grey/brown soil was uncovered. In Trench 9, Cross-trench E1, the base of a 19th-century wall, oriented east–west and continuing on to the west, was uncovered. The wall was of similar morphology and construction to the walls revealed near Shandon House. It was constructed of roughly coursed limestone with a lime-rich mortar. There was a possible clay floor to the south of the wall. The wall may be part of a building or part of the orchard wall for Shandon House; it is not possible to tell unless more of the wall is revealed.

A mid-18th-century map of Dungarvan shows Shandon House as a two-storey U-shaped building, with a two-bay central block and a two-bay block at either end. The suspected site of the house is covered with a mound of rubble, which consists of debris from the house and the remains of the 19th-century house. Deirdre Murphy undertook a geomagnetic survey of this area in 2000 (Excavations 2000, No. 990, 00E0442). This survey indicated possible archaeology to the west and east of the rubble and to the east of the shed; the results showed linear features all around. Four test-trenches were excavated in the exclusion zone.

Trench 1 was positioned around the site of the 19th-century house and revealed a high concentration of post-medieval features. The trench was 100m long, 2m wide and oriented north–south. Four perpendicular cross-trenches at c. 20m intervals were also excavated. The northern half of the trench contained ditch and drainage features and a possible topsoil-filled tree bowl. Cross-trench A contained stone metalling, a probable road surface. The metalling was contained by the foundation courses of a mortar-bonded wall at the western end. The wall was in line with masonry scarring on the western end of the north wall of the standing barn, suggesting that the wall found was the western boundary wall of the 19th-century farm-building complex, as shown on the OS map of 1927. A robbed-out wall foundation trench at the eastern end of Cross-trench A corresponds with the map evidence of a return-enclosing wall. The southern half of the trench, which went through the rubble mound, contained the highest concentration of activity, centred on the remains of the buildings of the 19th-century farm complex. No features were uncovered in the trench to suggest association with an earlier, 17th-century house. Cross-trenches B and C contained the foundation courses of the northern and southern end walls of the narrow, rectangular farm building depicted opposite the stone barn on the OS map. An area of rubble and coarse cobbling was revealed in the western ends of the cross-trenches and appeared to extend as far as the barn. To the east of the rectangular structure was an area of stone metalling that, again, may have been a road surface. North of the road surface was a large topsoil-filled feature; this may be a tree bowl of more recent date. Cross-trench D, the southernmost cross-trench, uncovered the remains of cobbling that was part of the formal entrance of the 19th-century house.

Trench 2 was c. 100m east of Trench 1 and oriented north–south; it was 110m long and 2m wide and had five cross-trenches running perpendicular to it at c. 20m intervals. It was used to investigate the site of the possible Penal church. Several post-medieval furrows were recorded, but no evidence of archaeological features was uncovered. A substantial part of the area had recently been stripped of topsoil, unsupervised and outside the remit of this development.

Trench 3, south-west of the barn, was positioned to investigate some of the linear anomalies identified in the geomagnetic survey. All of the linear features proved to be 19th-century drains and furrows associated with the farmhouse complex.

No finds or features of archaeological significance were uncovered in Trench 4.

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