County: Wexford Site name: Glascarrig
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WX017–010 Licence number: 08E0033
Author: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil, Kilkenny Archaeology, Rothe House, Kilkenny.
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 721368m, N 649281m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.581263, -6.209111
An impact assessment at Glascarrig North, Ballygarret, Co. Wexford, was undertaken prior to the drawing up of a planning application for a single-house development. The site was situated adjacent to the area of constraint for WX017–010, a priory. This refers to the Priory of St Mary, the only known priory of the Order of Tiron in Ireland, which was founded c. 1190 and granted lands in the area. Its foundation probably owes much to the religious affiliations of Raymond Le Gros, who was granted the manor of Glascarrig by Strongbow; and it was he who built the impressive motte (WX017–008) 200m to the north. The priory was suppressed in 1543, and in 1560 the remains are described as comprising a cell, a church, a hall, two rooms, a chantry and a small yard. The south wall of the church survives and some of the foundations of the priory church can be traced in the ground, forming a rectangular building. The east and part of the north wall are built into a residential house, and the western part of this building is shown on the first-edition OS map.
Five test-trenches were excavated across the proposed development site, all of which revealed a deep layer of hill-wash which had built up above the subsoil at the base of the hill to the south of the site. Testing failed to uncover anything of archaeological significance within the cuttings opened.
