County: Waterford Site name: KILBARRY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WA017-003001 Licence number: 04E0285
Author: Dave Pollock
Site type: Religious house - Knights Hospitallers
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 659113m, N 609555m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.234565, -7.134567
Site clearance and service trenching at a large housing development on the edge of Waterford was monitored for archaeological remains associated with the medieval settlement of Kilbarry. Fragmentary remains of (probable) medieval enclosures were recorded on the development site and medieval ditches and fire-spots were investigated at the site of a new roundabout. No building plan could be assembled from the limited remains. The activity is thought to be peripheral to the preceptory of Kilbarry, outside the main part of the settlement and mostly late medieval.
Extensive testing around the walled graveyard was undertaken ahead of planning further development, to assess the survival and extent of medieval remains associated with the preceptory. Mortared and clay-bonded stone buildings, originally slated, appear to form the core of the preceptory, located south of the church but on a different alignment and without a surrounding defence. A probable medieval road has been identified running past the west end of the church and a few fire-spots and patches of consolidated subsoil may represent a satellite lay settlement.
The area was bulldozed in the late 20th century and much of the site was buried under a rubbish tip. Nevertheless, much of the archaeological material appears to have survived in situ.
Knockrower Road, Stradbally, Co. Waterford
