2012:635 - John Gate Street, Wexford, Wexford

Wexford Borough Council commissioned installation of sub-surface services on John Gate Street, Wexford. The works took place in close proximity to an extant section of Wexford Town Wall and in the approximate location of the site of the medieval John’s Gate. Phase 1 of the project took place on 21 November 2011 (Excavations 2011, No. 634). The works were situated on the external side of the line of the Town Wall at John Gate Street, in the townland of Townparks. The works comprised underground installation of an acro-drain and ESB service ducts. All works were confined to the footpath and at the entrance to the Church of the Immaculate Conception on south side of the street.

The medieval wall runs in a north to south direction with a mural tower to the south. The exterior portion of the town wall south of the location of works is accessible through the grounds of the adjacent Church of the Immaculate Conception. Its interior is adjacent to the new Wexford Library. It is undergoing construction and is thus currently inaccessible. The medieval gate of John Gate Street is no longer extant above ground level. To the north of John Gate Street, the town wall forms the boundary between two private properties, of which the interior is accessible via a courtyard of Wexford Arts Centre. John Gate Street runs in an east to west direction. The works occurred within the footpath area and entrance to the Church of the Immaculate Conception on the south side of the street.

The surface of the area of works was covered by tarmac and measured approximately 7m (east to west) by 5m. Its stratigraphy comprised 0.1m tarmac, beneath which was a mixed layer of sandy yellow gravel, white mortar, small stone, red brick and some concrete. It had the appearance of imported deposit mixed with relatively modern building debris. This layer was found for the remainder of the depth of works. An oyster shell and three animal bone fragments were retrieved from the trench’s eastern end. The animal bone fragments included 1 distal ulna head of a pig. There was insufficient bone in the other fragments to accurately identify the bone or species. The deposit from which they were retrieved consisted of the same mixed layer of sandy yellow gravel, white mortar, small stone, red brick and some concrete, but with an additional composition of grey marl sand. This appears to be the disturbed residue of a medieval or post-medieval deposit mixed with modern building debris.

Dunburbeg, Clonmel Road, Co. Tipp