County: Kerry Site name: TRALEE: Ashe Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: KE029-119 Licence number: 04E0246
Author: Niamh O'Callaghan, Barrow Archaeological Services
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 483655m, N 614433m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.269273, -9.704674
This development involved the renewal of water mains in Ashe Street, Tralee. A trench, 1m wide and 1m deep, was excavated mechanically the length of the street, while shallower trenches were used for connections to individual premises off the main line. The trench was backfilled as each length of pipe was connected.
It was found throughout the excavation that most of the area had been disturbed and backfilled in recent years, mainly due to the culvert located down Ashe Street for The Big River (or River Gyle). The excavated material was composed of loose mixed mid-brown/yellow clay with occasional fragments of modern pottery and red brick. Two stone walls were recorded abutting each other at the northern end of Ashe Street. Wall 1 was visible for 1.03m in width and 0.7m in height; it was the terminal of a wall composed of cut limestone blocks and was bonded with mortar. Wall 2 abutted Wall 1 on the northern side. It was not as well built as Wall 1 and was constructed of roughly hewn limestone blocks and also bonded with mortar. It was five courses high (0.6m) and was visible for 2.5m in length; it continued beyond the limits of the trench. Both walls were reduced to the same height and lay under 0.09m of concrete, 0.21m of hardcore and 0.35m of backfilled clay and rubble. No evidence was found to provide a date for the walls, but two possibilities are suggested. Wall 2 may have been associated with the boundary wall of the River Gyle; it is in line with the eastern boundary wall of the river, as it stands now, c. 40m to the north; the walls may also have been associated with the local railway line between Tralee and Fenit (built in 1887). A row of railway houses are located a short distance to the north-west at the junction between Ashe Street and North Circular Road and one of the branches of the railway extended from the current Casement station through what was McCowan's timber yard and across the top of Ashe Street c. 10m north of these walls.
The walls were not disturbed as a result of the trench excavations and were protected during the laying of the pipe before the area was backfilled.
Sandy Lane, Barrow, Ardfert, Co. Kerry
