2008:1244 - Proposed OPW Offices, Bolton Street, Waterford, Waterford

Test-trenching was undertaken at a large develop-ment site (the former Park Foundry Timber Yard) at Bolton Street, Waterford, in advance of proposals by the OPW to construct government buildings there. High archaeological potential was suggested by its proximity to the medieval Augustinian Priory of St Catherine (WA009–00529). A timber trackway possibly associated with the priory was excavated by Orla Scully directly to the north of the proposed development site during the laying of the Waterford main drainage scheme (Excavations 1999 No. 849 and Excavations 2000, No. 1002, 99E0207). Defensive earthworks dating from the 1590s were also considered likely to cross through the proposed development site.
Eight test-trenches (totalling 280m in length) were excavated down to a level of estuarine silts, c. 1.4–1.9m below the existing ground surface, with smaller test-pits reaching a depth of c. 3m (–0.33m OD). The primary feature noted during the testing programme was a thick deposit (4–9m in thickness; the top of the layer was at c. 1.3m OD) of dense, sterile alluvial clay which was present over the entire site.
The archaeological evidence for extensive alluvial clays confirm historical sources which refer to this area as the ‘Caldbec’, a name which may be derived from Caladh Beag, the small harbour or marsh. In the early medieval period it seems that this site was situated on a low-lying and tidal marshy island bounded to the north-east by the Suir and the south and east by John’s River, which meandered through the marshlands. The defences that enclosed the Viking town avoided this area, and it may have been unsuitable for occupation at that time, and possibly even provided an additional defensive feature. References to ecclesiastical foundations on this marshy island dating from before the 12th century suggest that part of the island, probably to the north-west of the site, was relatively solid. Despite medieval documentary evidence for increasing integration of this formerly marshy environment into the town proper, the lands within the site appear to have remained as tidal mudlands during the medieval period. References to ‘unmeasured plots’, which were distinguished from farmland in mid-16th century reports on the holding of the priory’s properties, may refer to informal and unbounded marshland in the area of the site. Cartographic sources depict the reclamation of the marshland within the site over the post-medieval period and, when combined with archaeological evidence, it suggests a terminus ante quem for the cessation of on-site sedimentation between 1650 and 1800.
This deposit was therefore considered to represent the gradual silting up of marshland during the early medieval, medieval and early post-medieval periods, and as such was considered likely to seal, contain and possibly underlie material of significant archaeological interest. Based on the results of an engineering borehole programme, the base of the deposit is shallowest to the west at c. –1.7m OD (though reaching a depth of –3m OD in places), and becomes progressively deeper towards the east at c. –3m OD, particularly to the north-east next to John’s River, where it reaches –5m OD in depth.
The absence of evidence during the testing programme for the earthworks of 1590, established to strengthen Waterford’s defences prior to a feared Spanish invasion, despite cartographic suggestion that they ran through the site, was surprising. These may have been formed by a ditch and palisaded bank and should have been visible cut through the upper portion of the lower level of alluvial clay.
The test-trenching programme also revealed a significant amount of information on the strategies used for the reclamation of the marshy ground on the site during the industrial period. It is interesting to note that the eastern and western portions of the site were reclaimed differently, and probably at different times. The sequence of reclamation deposits and drain construction indicated a concerted and organised effort to reclaim land during the 18th and 19th centuries and appeared to contradict cartographic evidence which showed part of the site as gardens from the late 17th century. An extensive layer of demolition rubble and a truncated wall foundation to the west of the site were interpreted as being associated with the Royal Agricultural Show of 1857. A large amount of evidence for 20th-century industrial activity associated with the Park Foundry Timber Yard was also identified.