County: Tipperary Site name: GOLDEN WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT
Sites and Monuments Record No.: TI060–097 Licence number: 03E0897
Author: Jo Moran
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 601131m, N 638733m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.500000, -7.983333
A six-week archaeological excavation was carried out during November/December 2005 and January 2006 on behalf of Tipperary SR County Council, at the site of a proposed wastewater treatment plant at Hoops Lot, Golden, Co. Tipperary. The site is located at the edge of Golden village, on the north side of the River Suir, across the river from the castle. Part of the site lies in the flood-plain of the river and part on the adjacent hillside to the north-east. Test excavations carried out in 2003 and 2004 (Excavations 2003, No. 1753; Excavations 2004, No. 1605) found the remains of buildings on the terraced hillside.
Removal of the topsoil and a late revetment wall from the site exposed the remains of a range of mortared stone buildings, clay floors, post-holes, surfaces and drains, all associated with 13th-/early 14th-century pottery. The walls varied between 0.8m and 1m thick and some stood almost 1m high. Building B was cut into the hillside and, although the walls survived to 1m high at the north end, none survived above outside ground level. Results from midden analysis suggest that the building was domestic rather than industrial. A lack of late 17th-century finds suggests that the site was abandoned before this time.
A substantial mortared stone wall (1m wide) ran parallel to the river, turned a corner and ran northwards up the hillside. It is likely to have been an enclosing wall around the buildings. A short length of this wall survived at least 0.5m high and had a batter on the outside.
Construction level was not reached due to flooding and disturbance from recent pipe trenches. There was a small latrine tower attached to the inside of the enclosing wall with a narrow opening through the wall (the river washed against the outside). The wall had been badly damaged by a ditch running parallel to the river (perhaps associated with the 18th-century mill upstream of the bridge) and excavations for the present septic tank.
An earlier phase of activity pre-dating the buildings is believed to be present on site, as indicated by the test excavations.
Knockrower Road, Stradbally, Co. Waterford
