2004:1670 - DUNGARVAN, Waterford

Monitoring took place of groundworks associated with the laying of the broadband cable network within the zone of archaeological potential for the town of Dungarvan. This work was carried out on an ongoing basis between January and February 2004. The streets within the medieval town along which the cable network extended included Emmet Street (east of Mary Street), Parnell Street (east of Grattan Square) and Church Street. To accommodate the cabling, a trench 0.5m wide by 0.7m deep was excavated.

Parnell Street
Monitoring commenced on Parnell Street, east of Grattan Square. Deposits of gravel with inclusions of small stones, brick fragments, mortar and sherds of chinaware from the post-medieval period were encountered 26m east of the junction with Augustine Street at a depth of 0.2m under the street surface. The post-medieval layers varied in depth but were present for the remainder of the excavation along Parnell Street. A small section of cobbling was uncovered 17m east of the junction of Parnell Street and Galwey's Lane. The cobbles extended for a length of 10m along the northern side of the trench and overlay post-medieval layers. Under these layers, at a depth of 0.25m, was a thin layer of dark-brown compact silty sand with inclusions of small stones, charcoal, shell and animal bone. The compact silt (0.10–0.15m thick) overlay a rough pebble surface pressed into the underlying subsoil. Sherds of medieval pottery were recovered from this layer.

Church Street
Midway along Church Street, a small section of cobbling similar to that found in Parnell Street was uncovered. The cobbling extended for a length of 1.5m north-south within the trench and under the cobbles was a thin layer (0.1m thick) of dark-brown silty sand. Contained within the layer were inclusions of small stones, shell, fish bone and charcoal flecking. A second layer of dark-brown silty sand was uncovered 19m north of the junction of Church Street and Emmet Street. The layer extended for a length of 2m north-south by 0.1–0.2m deep. Although no pottery was recovered from either layer, they were similar in composition to the layer uncovered in Parnell Street.

Seventeen metres north of the junction with Emmet Street, a possible pit/ditch, 2m in width north-south by 0.7m deep, was uncovered. The upper layers of the feature were post-medieval in date, but the lower silt fill had inclusions of shell fragments, fish bone and charcoal flecking, similar to other deposits uncovered along the street. Two sherds of medieval pottery were recovered from this silt layer. The extent of the feature was not established. When the required depth for the pipe ducting of 0.7m was achieved, the feature was secured with geotextile and the cable ducting put in place. At the junction of Church Street and Emmet Street a deposit of loose sand with a high shell content was uncovered. This deposit was disturbed and may have been redeposited from elsewhere.

Emmet Street
A mixed deposit of brown silty sand, stone and fish bone extending for a 10m length by 0.3m depth was uncovered at the eastern end of Emmet Street towards the junction with Church Street. No datable finds were recovered from the layer. A layer, 0.2-0.3m thick, of brown silty sand, with frequent inclusions of small stones and occasional inclusions of animal and fish bone, was uncovered extending for a length of 20m east-west in front of the Mercy Convent Secondary School. No datable finds were retrieved from this layer. Twenty metres east of the junction of Emmet Street and Augustine Street, a small deposit of rubble masonry was found.

The excavation of the cable trench uncovered deposits dating from the medieval period in both Parnell Street and Church Street and showed the presence of disturbed deposits along Emmet Street. The full extent of these archaeological deposits is not known, as the excavation undertaken was confined to the cable trench.

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