County: Wexford Site name: Drumgold/Vinegar Hill, Drumgold, Enniscorthy
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 12E182
Author: Antoine Giacometti
Site type: Battlefield/post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 698438m, N 639574m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.498669, -6.550209
A programme of metal-detection (12R062), geophysical survey, monitoring and a detailed survey of a boundary wall was carried out in June 2012 on a greenfield site to the east of Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. The site (for the proposed Drumgold School) is bounded to the south by the Drumgold Road and to the west by a minor road that links the Drumgold Road to the R744 Regional Road. Vinegar Hill is situated directly to the west and the National Monuments Service Irish Battlefields Project includes the full footprint of the proposed development site within the battlefield site (Report on the Battlefield of Vinegar Hill, Co. Wexford, 1798, Eneclann Ltd & Headland Archaeology Ltd, June 2008, draft text).
The metal detection survey revealed a single possible artefact associated with the 1798 battle (a fragment of lead shot waste) but the overall results indicate that the site has very low quantities of metal artefacts from the Vinegar Hill battle. The geophysical survey identified buildings (interpreted as those shown on the 1837 OS map) and associated farm features in the south-west of the site. These findings were confirmed during the monitoring programme, which demonstrated the farm was occupied from at least the 18th century, and thus was operating during the 1798 battle. Other minor possibly-archaeological features were identified and excavated during the monitoring programme but these were of limited interest.
The archaeological investigation works at this site are now complete, and no archaeological material has been impacted upon during the construction of the new Drumgold School and grounds at this location.
Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2
