2004:1690 - WATERFORD: Port of Waterford House, George's Street Great, Waterford

Testing was conducted here prior to planning permission. The building is a fine late 18th-century house built for a William Morris. The architect, John Roberts, is credited with designing the imposing Morris House (c. 1785), Great George's Street, for the rich merchant William Morris of Rosduff. It was purchased a generation later by the future Waterford Chamber of Commerce, who undertook internal alterations in 1830, including the oval dome above the spectacularly elegant cantilevered staircase. It is locally best known as the headquarters of the Waterford Harbour Commissioners, who recently sold it after 188 years of occupancy. The building has been bought by a private consortium that has already commissioned an architectural conservation plan, which was submitted to the NIAH branch of the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

Testing was carried out to establish whether there was surviving archaeology on the site, which would prove an obstacle to plans to insert a modern cellar behind the original basements. In all, there are nine separate rooms in the basement area, which extend beyond the rear of the building. The positioning of the test-trenches was such that the area to the rear of the cellars was comprehensively tested. In each trench, digging continued until a stratum ofgeologically produced sandy material was reached. In all cases, under a layer of early modern rubble, this sandy material was to be seen at an average depth of c. 1m. The exception was in the area of the cellar, where a substantial wall trench was dug to facilitate digging there. The only feature exposed was a boundary wall, possibly contemporary with the building, which had been levelled to increase parking space in the resurfaced yard.

No significant archaeological material was exposed by the test-trenches.

7 Bayview, Tramore, Co. Waterford