2013:448 - Friar Street, John Street and Main Street, Cashel, Tipperary

Monitoring took place on Upper and Lower Friar Street (inclusive of metal detecting) from 14 August 2013 to 29 January 2014. The monitoring was governed by sub-surface installation of overhead ESB gables along the full length of Friar Street and involved erection of new public light stands. The project was conducted by Cashel Town Council.

Excavation involved trench depths between 0.4m and 0.8m, with the majority being 0.8m with a width of 0.4m. The locations of light stands required adjacent excavation that averaged 1.2m by 1.2m. For the most part, the encountered stratigraphy was that of brick paving or tarmac with sand bedding layers, frequently retaining service ducts. The trenches in Lower Friar Street had a lens of silty clay in a number of locations from which 17^th- and 18^th-century pottery and an iron nail were recovered. A 17^th- to 18^th-century wall foundation was revealed in the side of one section of trench on the east side of Upper Friar Street, which measured c. 30m in length, as well as a 2.5m medieval to post-medieval wall foundation on the west side of Lower Friar Street. Both were recorded in situ. Victorian stone-lined culverted drains were revealed on both sides of Upper Friar Street, which ran adjacent and parallel to the modern street kerbing on both sides.

During monitoring works, Cashel Town Council extended the remit of the project to include limited footpath replacement on John Street and Main Street. The nature of the works entailed excavation of up to 0.35-0.4m in depth and for the full widths of the footpaths, and resurfacing with brick paving. The stratigraphy comprised tarmac or concrete surface with underlying sand bedding layer. C. 2m of medieval to post-medieval wall foundation was revealed on east side of John Street (and reused as footing to the Georgian street frontage). A stone-lined culverted Georgian drain, with associated adjacent cobbled surfaces (including bedding layers) was recorded on the north side of Main Street and immediately west of the Bank of Ireland. This feature respected and was found to be contemporary with a former coach arch of the adjacent Georgian town house.

17^th- and 18^th-century pottery was recovered from Friar Street within a dark brown compacted silt stratigraphy, which was extensively disturbed by modern utility services. This soil was found throughout Lower Friar Street and animal bone was recovered along its extent.

Dunburbeg, Clonmel Road, Co. Tipperary.