2003:1937 - WATERFORD: Reginald's Tower, Waterford

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Waterford Site name: WATERFORD: Reginald's Tower

Sites and Monuments Record No.: WA009-005---- Licence number: 03E0693

Author: Orla Scully

Site type: Structure

Period/Dating: Undetermined

ITM: E 659453m, N 612019m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.256667, -7.129167

Two pits were dug on either side of Reginald's Tower, south and west of it, to accommodate two 40-foot-high poles from which Waterford City Council will hang banners, at either side of the tower, at points midway between the adjacent street-fronting buildings and the tower. The tower stands at the apex of the triangular-shaped walled Viking city. It commands a view up and down the River Suir and down the Mall, which in Viking times was a small harbour. No archaeological features were disturbed in the pit to the south. In the western pit, beneath the modern surface, was a spread of stones, bonded with a honey-coloured mortar with a high content of shell. The area of masonry exposed was 2.3m north-south by 1.5m. The feature continued outside the area of the pit at both the north and south.

The area was too confined to come to any definite conclusions. The possibilities are that the masonry is the remnants of the medieval city wall, or part of an early quay wall, or part of the defensive blockhouse built in the late 16th century, or a base to the warehouse steps depicted in the 18th-century drawing of that time. The masonry was protected and a raft foundation for the pole ensured its survival.

7 Bayview, Tramore, Co. Waterford