2004:1585 - CLONMEL, Tipperary

Monitoring was undertaken within the confines of the zone of archaeological potential for the town of Clonmel as part of the Clonmel Broadband scheme. Cable laying for the scheme extended through areas within the walled town. Two areas were of particular sensitivity, West Gate and East Gate. To avoid hitting either gate or the associated town wall, the trench for the cable was kept very shallow (0.35–0.4m) and steel plates were laid to give appropriate protective cover over the cabling.

Apart from an area in Irishtown, to the west of the West Gate, the vast majority of monitoring was within the confines of the medieval town. The lack of medieval material revealed in the course of the works was surprising. It was a deliberate policy to raise the levels in areas of gates, town walls and town ditches to avoid hitting such features, and accordingly such features were not encountered.

When considering the width of the West Gate, it is evidently far narrower than the present road width. It is therefore possible that any medieval frontages would have been projected nearer to the middle of the road. This should have resulted in the discovery of a number of medieval foundations—possibly occupation layers and surfaces—but did not. A reason for this may be gleaned from the number of culverts and cellars that were identified during monitoring. Post-medieval deposits were discovered in the form of wall surfaces, culverts and cellars, all of which were encountered at a shallow depth. This high incidence would suggest considerable groundworksin the post-medieval (especially Victorian) period, resulting in extensive removal of medieval layers to facilitate the construction of the above works. Added to this is the considerable modern ground disturbance encountered in the vast majority of trenches. This is conclusively manifest in the vast quantities of modern brick and rubble uncovered along parts of the route.

17 Staunton Row, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary