2003:1753 - GOLDEN: Hoops' Lot, Tipperary

Test excavations were carried out on behalf of South Tipperary County Council at the site of a proposed wastewater treatment plant at Hoops' Lot, Golden, Co. Tipperary, on 17 and 18 June 2003. Although the site lies outside the zone of archaeological potential for Golden, testing was requested because of the considerable archaeological remains uncovered to the east of the site during an excavation in 2001 (Excavations 2001, No. 1222, 01E0119). The site is at the edge of Golden village on the north side of the River Suir, south-east of the council's recent housing development. Part of the site lies in the flood-plain of the river and part on the adjacent hillside.

Two test-trenches were excavated using a JCB with a 1m toothless bucket. Trench A (1.3m by 28.1m) was excavated at right angles to the river, running downhill from north-east to south-west. Trench B (c. 1.3 by 6.8m) was cut parallel to the river and formed a T shape with Trench A.

Houses on terraces, represented by walls and flooring, were uncovered in Trench A extending down the hill from the high ground to the flood-plain. No finds were recovered to date these features, but the absence of post-medieval finds suggests they belong to the medieval or early post-medieval period.

At the foot of the hillside a silty brown midden-like soil with concentrations of ash, charcoal, small stone and mortar overlay a substantial mortared stone wall running east-west across the trench. This wall joined another wall, running north-south, to form the corner of a mortared stone building associated with 13th/14th-century local pottery (Clare McCutcheon, pers. comm.). The extent of the building is not known, but its situation on the flood-plain suggests it was a watermill.

Knockrower Road, Stradbally, Co. Waterford