2008:1115 - 8–9 O’Connell Street, Clonmel, Tipperary

Five trenches were cut in advance of a development at 8–9 O’Connell Street, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. Two trenches beside Flag Lane found late medieval/early post-medieval masonry walls and clay floors. A central trench found the peaty midden which had accumulated in a lagoon between the main street (present O’Connell Street) and the medieval riverside quay. Two other trenches were inconclusive; one cut into a 19th-century sump, the other failed to bottom a deep fill of 20th-century rubble.
Area excavation beside Flag Lane found remains of a medieval timber building (damaged by fire) and kiln, built on a platform of imported gravel over a thin soil and deep flood silt. A mortared rubble wall on the platform appears to have been a major medieval property boundary running parallel with the lane. Beyond (east of) the gravel platform, a deep hollow accumulated a peaty midden deposit. A pair of large post-medieval stone-lined tanks beside Flag Lane have probably destroyed medieval building remains closer to O’Connell Street, and further late stone-lined tanks and drains have damaged medieval levels in the interior of the site.
Further information from the interior of the site may come to light during monitored groundworks in 2009.