County: Tipperary Site name: Carrick-on-Suir
Sites and Monuments Record No.: TS085–004 Licence number: E003451
Author: Mary Henry, Mary Henry Archaeological Services Ltd, 17 Staunton Row, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.
Site type: Urban
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 639586m, N 621942m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.347650, -7.418971
Groundworks were monitored as part of laying ducting for a broadband scheme in Carrick-on-Suir town. Little of archaeological significance was uncovered. Substantial sections of the works within the zone followed routes that had previously been disturbed to accommodate services, most notably the Carrick-on-Suir main drainage scheme. Almost all groundworks in Carickbeg extended along the main drainage corridor. Regarding the town centre, ducting along New Street followed almost all the route of a service laid in the 1980s. Along the Main Street ducting extended on the opposite side of the street to the main drainage scheme, but nothing of archaeological provenance was uncovered. The closeness of the natural deposition to the present ground level was noteworthy, in some instances occurring beneath the road make-up. This suggests any previous road surface was removed at the time of the present road being laid, or that the earlier surface comprised the natural clays and was never cobbled.
At two locations the line of the town wall/fortified gates, classified as a national monument, was crossed: the West Gate and New/North Gate. Excavations for ducting were kept very shallow (0.4m below modern ground level) to avoid encountering the medieval walls; the trench was metal sheeted in these areas.
