County: Wexford Site name: WEXFORD: Pierce’s Foundry, Distillery Road
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 06E0383
Author: Niall Colfer
Site type: Industrial site
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 704884m, N 621179m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.332189, -6.461077
Test excavation as part of a pre-planning assessment was undertaken at the site of Pierce’s Foundry, Distillery Road, Wexford, on 22–25 May 2006. Fourteen trenches were excavated, designed to uncover any pre-foundry activity. The site was outside the zone of archaeological importance of Wexford town, but cartographic evidence showed a 19th-century millpond on the site and the existence of medieval mills in the proximity suggested the need for testing.
The site dipped in a south-westerly direction as it approached the now culverted river running along the northern side of the site. In the low-lying areas subsoil was reached at c. 1.2m, a dark-grey estuarine deposit. In the higher areas subsoil was reached at a depth of 0.5–1m. Nothing of archaeological significance was found. A number of 19th- and 20th-century walls clearly visible on OS maps were unearthed.
9 Eglinton Court, Eglinton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4
