2004:1600 - FETHARD: Belbow Lane, Tipperary
County: Tipperary
Site name: FETHARD: Belbow Lane
Sites and Monuments Record No.: TS070-040
Licence number: 04E1712
Author: Rose M. Cleary, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 620928m, N 634996m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.466003, -7.692010
Fethard is a medieval town founded in the early 13th century by William de Braose, nephew of the original Norman grantee, Philip de Braose. De Braose's lands were confiscated by King John and thereafter the lands passed to the Archbishop of Cashel. The site for Fethard was probably chosen for its location near the Clashawley River and because a church already existed at the site. The town appears to have thrived up to the later 14th century. The town was walled from the late 14th century and various royal murage grants were made up to the late 15th century. Many buildings in Fethard date from the 17th century, when the Everard family guided the town's prosperity.
Test excavation was undertaken in advance of the development of a private house. The site had been used as a garden and testing showed that the garden soil was up to 1m thick. Test-trenching did not uncover any archaeological find or feature.