County: Tipperary Site name: RAHEEN MILL, BURKE PARK, CLONMEL
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 09E504; 09R201
Author: Eoghan Kieran, Moore Marine Services, Corporate House, Ballybrit Business Park, Galway.
Site type: Smithy/mill
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 621099m, N 622737m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.355817, -7.690255
Moore Marine Ltd on behalf of Mott McDonald Ireland Ltd, Consulting Engineers, carried out a programme of testing in advance of the construction of a foundation trench for a flood-defence wall at the site of Raheen Mill, Burke Park, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. The work was carried out in October 2009.
Three test-trenches were excavated. Trenches 1 and 2, divided by an NTL service manhole, were excavated to examine the route of the flood-defence wall. Trench 3 attempted to determine the extent of the mill remains.
Trenches 1 and 2 recorded that there were archaeological deposits and structural remains along the route of the flood-defence wall. These deposits may have been associated with the blacksmiths known to have been on site from the second-edition OS map. The smithy would then appear to have been contained within an earlier structure, presumably the mill. The third trench confirmed that a floor surface with kerbing survived inside the mill structure. A thin deposit of roof slate uncovered may indicate an episode of decay and collapse or deliberate destruction. It also recorded that there were a few archaeological deposits remaining in the northern side of Raven Mill to a depth which almost reached the regular waterline on the outside of this part of the building.
