County: Tipperary Site name: NENAGH: Abbey Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1348
Author: Linda Clarke, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Church
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 586654m, N 679104m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.862687, -8.198187
An assessment was carried out at Abbey Street, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, between 22 and 24 September 2003. The site is located within the zone of archaeological potential associated with the medieval town (SMR 20:37). The closest monument is the medieval Franciscan friary located c. 8m to the south of the proposed development.
The OS map of 1843 depicts a Roman Catholic chapel within the proposed development site. Documentary evidence (diocesan records) confirms the presence of this building and also informs us that it was built between 1839 and 1841. The OS map of 1903, however, shows this chapel in ruins. This followed the construction of a new church (St Mary's of the Rosary) at a different location, commissioned in February 1892. All traces of the chapel within the proposed development site were removed by 1954, as there is no trace of this building on the OS map for that year.
Three trenches were excavated. Two north-south limestone coursed walls were exposed in Trenches 2 and 3 but did not extend as far north as Trench 1. They almost certainly represent the remains of the 19th-century chapel and would have formed the eastern and western walls of the nave. The altar would have existed beneath what is now Abbey Street. Cobbles exposed within Trench 3 would have been located outside the chapel and probably represent the remains of an associated pathway.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
