2003:1868 - DUNGARVAN: Home Rule Street, Abbeyside, Waterford

Monitoring of groundworks took place for a development within the zone of archaeological potential for Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, after the demolition of the previous building on the site had taken place. The development is situated on the corner of Home Rule Street and Strandside South, in a residential area in the Dungarvan suburb of Abbeyside. The site overlooks the Colligan estuary/Dungarvan Harbour at the west. East of the site is the site of a medieval tower-house and south-east of it are the ruins of a medieval Augustinian friary.

The foundation trenches were excavated to c. 0.6m below the ground surface. Most of the site was covered in rubble before excavation began. Below this, a sterile gravel-and-sand mix was revealed on the southern and south-western part of the site. In the centre of the site, light-brown clay was revealed. Darker mixed clay occurred elsewhere on the site, which appeared to be of post-medieval origin. In addition to these sediments, some areas of concentrated rubble and wall foundations were encountered. These were associated with the demolished building. Besides these trenches, a test-pit was dug outside the building area at the front of the site. This revealed the same gravel-and-sand layer as above and, under it, a layer of gravel containing frequent amounts of shell. This was probably the original beach level.

One small sherd of Irish-made medieval pottery was recovered from the surface of the post-medieval rubble layer. The context was very mixed and later in date, so the pottery obviously originally came from elsewhere. It seems likely that some of the material on the site was imported to level it and raise it up from the beach level, so it is possible that the pottery was introduced at this time.

Unit 2F, Dungarvan Business Park, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford.