County: Tipperary Site name: The Valley, Fethard
Sites and Monuments Record No.: TS070–040 Licence number: 08E0695
Author: Mary Henry, Mary Henry Archaeological Services Ltd, 17 Staunton Row, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
Site type: Cobbled surface
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 620508m, N 634789m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.464162, -7.698198
Located on the southern side of the Clashawley River, this site presently comprises a greenfield facility utilised as a paddock. The first-edition OS map (1840) shows a single building within the site abutting the eastern boundary, whilst an external structure abuts the western boundary. A total of three test-trenches were opened on the site of two proposed dwelling houses.
During testing a cobbled surface was revealed 0.6m below ground level in Trench 1, sealed by upper deposits. It was considered these cobbles were associated with the building within the plot and may have been part of a stable and associated yard.
Due to the nature of the site and its close proximity to the river, it is to be infilled to a height of 0.75m above the present ground surface, which in total will be 1.35m above the cobbled surface. This provided enough of a soil buffer to have a negative impact upon the cobbles, resulting in preservation in situ. Stratigraphy was consistent in the other two test-trenches. It comprised a topsoil of dark-brown, almost black, very silty, slightly sandy clay with occasional pebbles, measuring between 0.21–0.25m thick. This overlay a mid- to dark-brownish-grey sandy silty clay containing moderate amounts of small stones. Natural at the base of the trenches consisted of a light-brown, very sandy clay with frequent rounded stones and gravels.
At the north-eastern end of Trench 2 a stone dump was discovered. With a maximum depth of 1.1m it contained large stones with a diameter of up to 0.45m. No bonding was found with, or attached to, any of the stones and it is considered this was probably utilised to fill a depression or boggy area present on the ground surface.
