2005:1413 - CASHEL: Bank Place, Tipperary

The site is located within the zone of archaeological potential for the historic town of Cashel and is immediately to the east of St Dominic’s Abbey. Two separate developments on the same site were excavated in 2005 under an upgrade to the testing licence held by Caitriona Gleeson (see Excavations 2004, No. 1580). The first consists of a gap site at the rear of properties fronting Bank Place and to the north-east of the recently completed Dominic’s Court development (see report on that site by Mary O’Donnell in Excavations 2000, No. 916, 00E0312). The second development fronts onto the street at Bank Place.

Excavations in the first development were confined to the foundation strip and were dug to the foundation level of the proposed buildings. Features and deposits outside and below this level were preserved in situ. Evidence was found for medieval ‘backyard’ activity in the form of deep refuse pits, the largest of which was enclosed by a wooden fence (with wooden posts surviving in situ) with a cobbled surface at ground level. Other medieval features included a square stone-lined pit and an adjacent irregular-shaped pit containing the almost complete remains of a Cashel-type ware vessel (identified and reconstructed by Claire McCutcheon). Other finds included a number of quernstone fragments, an iron knife, both local and imported ceramic sherds, and numerous animal bones. A possible burgage-plot boundary in the form of an east–west-orientated bank of redeposited clay was noted; this feature roughly follows the existing plot sub-divisions. Two stone-lined wells (positioned on either side of the possible plot boundary) and a number of post-medieval stone-lined drains were also recorded. A number of walls on various alignments (some of which relate to extant buildings surrounding the site) were identified, but the town wall was not identified in the north-east corner of the site as previous testing had suggested. A deep deposit of modern building rubble and rubbish had sealed all of the above features.

On the adjoining development fronting onto Bank Place the earliest evidence uncovered relates to smithing and smelting furnaces. Sherds of local and imported wares were found. A medieval rubbish pit contained a complete quernstone base and wooden plank fragments, as well as substantial organic deposits. Clay floors were associated with a possible large rectangular structure, which was suggested by numerous stake- and post-holes. A north–south-orientated double row of stake holes may have formed a plot boundary. Most of the above evidence was sealed by a thick deposit of ash and charcoal-rich material associated with a substantial hearth, which was centrally located on the site. At the surface of the hearth deposit, fragments of quernstone, as well as mixed medieval and post-medieval finds, were recovered.

Evidence for a lane leading from Bank Place towards the Dominican abbey was also found. Local sources confirm that this laneway was in use and led to the urban dumping ground in the first area until the 1960s. Post-medieval features consisted mainly of rubble walls and foundations, some of which related to extant portions of modern buildings.

The medieval deposits were shallow on both sites, suggesting that significant ground reduction and truncation had taken place during post-medieval and modern times on both sites.

Unit 4b Europa Enterprise Park, Midleton, Co. Cork