2012:339 - West Street/Chapel Lane, Callan, Kilkenny

A programme of excavation was conducted in August 2012 at a greenfield site to the west of Callan town and just east of the N76 Callan Bypass, in advance of the construction of an Aldi store. Archaeological material (in the form of a possible medieval cesspit) had been identified here in a 2011 test-trenching programme (Excavations 2011, No. 379, 11E0234).
Archaeological remains on the site represented two main phases of use. The later phase dated to the c. 18th century and represented narrow property (burgage plot or field) boundaries associated with structures that fronted onto West Street and correspond to the town plan as reflected on the Stuish Map of 1681. The street front structures themselves (KK026-010023) did not survive. The Callan town defences (KK026-010007) were not found on the site.
The earlier phase was medieval (c. 13th and 14th centuries AD) and represented earlier versions of the same properties and burgage plots. Two large pits that had been located in the back yards of medieval houses were excavated. One of these was very large, and the other was smaller and was lined with a wooden barrel. Medieval pottery inside these pits was made locally in the late 12th to 14th centuries, and represented simple domestic utilitarian vessels including jugs and cooking pots. Similarly, the animal bones represented kitchen waste, butchery waste and the remains of household animals. Signs of abrasion, weathering and gnawing on the bone and pottery suggest they had been left outside (in rubbish heaps probably) for some time before being deposited in the fills of the pits and drains. Dumps of wood-ash from fireplaces were also found in the pits.
The animal bone assemblage suggested the medieval occupants of the site enjoyed a typical medieval diet, with their meats dominated by beef. Mutton and pork/bacon were of lesser importance, and fowl and geese may have been occasional additions to the diet. The bones from the prime meat-bearing areas of animals were absent from the site, and many of the bones bore traces of pathologies indicating the animals were sick. Both of these indicators suggest the occupants could not afford the best meat, and had to content themselves with cheaper options. Some bones bore signs of having their marrow extracted, a practice often associated with a lower status diet. Charred wheat grain, indicating some level of crop drying (and thus probably crop growing) was being undertaken at the site.
A bone from a cat was found in the large medieval pit, and the gnawing marks on many of the bones suggested the presence of dogs on the site. Evidence was also found that hens and goats were kept on the site, presumably for eggs, milk and cheese and eventually for meat and the sale of hides and horns to tanners and horn-workers elsewhere (neither of these crafts took place on the site).

Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2