2010:656 - Deanery Gardens, Cathedral Square, Waterford, Waterford

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Waterford Site name: Deanery Gardens, Cathedral Square, Waterford

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E4188; C396

Author: Órla Scully, 7, Bayview, Tramore, Co. Waterford.

Site type: Urban, medieval

Period/Dating:

ITM: E 660919m, N 612418m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.260099, -7.107625

The area to the east of the medieval undercroft (see No. 655 above), behind City Hall, The Mall, Waterford, is referred to historically as the Deanery Gardens. The site is surrounded on three sides by City Hall and the Civic Offices. The west of the site is open to Cathedral Square. The medieval undercroft, a semi-basemented structure, faces Cathedral Square. The lower ground floor of the proposed medieval museum will occupy part of the Deanery Gardens, east of the undercroft. The area immediately east of the undercroft was excavated under licence 98E447 (Excavations 1998, No. 639). The remaining area of the footprint of the building was selected for full excavation, undertaken by Robert O’Hara, Archer Heritage Ltd, under the co-direction of the writer. The excavations are ongoing and will be completed by June 2011. The area east of the undercroft revealed a series of large medieval pits with large quantities of animal bone and medieval pottery. There were also some later property boundaries, extending at right angles from the city wall at the south. The flattened bank of the earlier defences was exposed. A later stone well was also excavated and will be retained in the garden of City Hall. The earliest levels of occupation yielded a Viking Age ring-pin of 11th-century date.