County: Wexford Site name: WEXFORD: 56–60 Main Street South
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1167
Author: Jacinta Kiely and James Lyttleton, Eachtra Archaeological Projects
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 704886m, N 621693m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.336809, -6.460885
The site was within the walled town of Wexford, SMR 37:16, to the west and rear of 56–60 South Main Street. Peter’s Street bordered the site to the south. Planning permission was granted to demolish the rear part of Nos 56–60, associated outbuildings and the boundary wall and to construct a new development. The ground level was reduced at the rear of the property. During monitoring of ground disturbance, archaeological stratigraphy was recorded in the southern section of the site.
An area measuring 12m by 12m was excavated. Seven pits were found near each other, in what was the area of a medieval burgage plot. All were circular or subcircular in plan. They did not occur in any particular order or alignment but were clustered together. They varied in terms of size and amount of fill. The largest measured 2m by 1.9m and was 0.85m deep. The smallest measured 1.4m by 0.86m and was 0.57m deep. All were unlined. They were filled with domestic waste, including broken pottery, animal bone, charcoal and small amounts of slag. Most of the pottery was Wexford type and Leinster cooking ware, but Saintonge, Ham Green, Redcliffe and Minety were also recorded. The cereal remains recorded in the fills of the pits were dominated by wheat; barley, oats and arable weeds were also recorded.
The basal courses of two limestone walls and a well, all post-medieval, were excavated to the immediate south of the pits. The well was constructed in the area defined by the walls, at the rear of a property that faced onto Peter’s Street. It was subcircular; the cut measured 5m north–south by 4m and was c. 4.8m deep.
3 Canal Place, Tralee, Co. Kerry
