County: Waterford Site name: Railway Square, Waterford
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0286
Author: Colm Moloney, Headland Archaeology Ltd, Unit 1, Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Co. Cork.
Site type: Urban
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 659937m, N 611752m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.254222, -7.122123
Archaeological excavation was carried out on behalf of P.J. Hegarty and Sons Ltd in advance of the development of a site at Railway Square, Waterford city. Investigations at the site included test-trenching, a survey of part of the standing city wall and three phases of monitoring.
The final phase of monitoring was carried out in May 2006 revealing no archaeological features or deposits, only river silts in an area of ground disturbed by services (see Excavations 2004, No. 1702, for earlier work on the site).
Work on the survey of the wall revealed a number of unrecorded gun loops which had previously been obscured by vegetation. Also noted was a Victorian building, which was built into the east wall.
The proximity of the development site to the medieval city walls of Waterford made the potential for subsurface archaeological remains high; however, archaeological investigations revealed that there was extensive disturbance to the site as a result of the construction of the railway. Also it was noted that much of the site consisted of alluvial deposits and that the river was originally much wider at this location, limiting the potential for settlement.
No archaeological features, deposits or artefacts of significance were recovered during the course of testing and monitoring at the site.
