2005:1417 - CASHEL: Wesley Square, Tipperary

This site is located in Wesley Square, off Main Street in Cashel. It is bounded to the west by William Street and to the south by an adjoining garden boundary and the SuperValu carpark. The remains of a late medieval stone building stand between this development site and the supermarket building at the eastern part of the site. Testing was carried out on this site by Richard Clutterbuck (Excavations 2003, No. 1730, 03E1831) as part of a pre-planning archaeological assessment report. Planning permission was granted for a retail development by Cashel Town Council in 2004. Excavations on this site were conducted over four weeks in September and October 2005.

The earliest evidence uncovered was for medieval rubbish pits, followed by east–west-orientated property alignments/divisions in the form of post and stake rows. The full extent of the late medieval building (site of the medieval town jail), which stands adjacent to the supermarket, was uncovered. This building extended a further 12m towards William Street and two internal rooms were identified.

Further to the west, both medieval and post-medieval deposits representing successive buildings, as well as deposits of garden soils, were identified. The truncated remains of at least two individuals were identified in this area; they had been disturbed during the 1960s construction of a furniture store on the site.

At the northern part of the site, two further east–west-orientated (but lying head-to-toe) inhumations in shallow grave-cuts were recorded. These lay directly below the concrete floor slab of the furniture store, the second burial having been partially disturbed by the construction of this building. These burials were concluded to date to the 1798 rebellion; sources indicate that a number of individuals were hung from a gallows on this site at that time. Local sources also indicate that a number of other burials were removed from this site (and were reinterred in unmarked graves in the cemetery adjoining the present Catholic church in Friar Street). Finally, the truncated remains of the Wesleyan Chapel, which stood on this site until the mid-20th century, were recorded. This building had incorporated part of the late medieval building into its structure. Cobbled surfaces and other associated features external to this building were also recorded.

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