2013:449 - Indaville House, Cashel, Tipperary

An assessment was carried out for a proposed retail development for Aldi (Ireland) Ltd. The site is located in the grounds of Indaville House (Protected Structure Ref. CAS 19), Cashel, County Tipperary.

Test trenching took place over a four-day period in May 2013 using a 13-tonne mechanical excavator with a grading bucket. The purpose of the assessment was to establish the nature and extent of the sub-surface remains of the medieval town wall and associated ditch, the supposed line of which divides the site in two. The testing also aimed to determine the presence or absence of any further archaeological features throughout the site and to assess the impact of the proposed development on any archaeology that might be identified.

A total of 19 test trenches, T1–T19 (including extension T5A), were excavated all of which were 2m wide and ranged in length from 7m to 25m. The investigative works undertaken on the site have demonstrated a very accurate correlation between the location of the town wall as indicated on historic Ordnance Survey maps and the actual subsurface remains of the wall.

The testing identified the presence of in situ remains of the town wall located at the northern end of the site in test trenches T4, T5, T5A and T14. It can be extrapolated that the in situ remains may potentially extend for approximately 21m from the northern boundary/‘Summer House’ to the end of T5A, and where investigated (southern end of T5A) survived to a depth of 0.65m on the intact side of the inside face . The town wall measured 0.6–0.7m wide but it was evident that the outside face was not fully intact. The associated ditch was identified and investigated in T5 where it measured 3.2m wide and was established to be about 0.9m deep. This in situ alignment corresponds with the upstanding alignment of the town wall that is present in the development to the north of the site.

The ‘robbed out’ sections of the town wall were identified in T1–T3 and were located between 0.15–0.35m below ground level. These sections of the wall appeared as linear cuts in to the subsoil filled with mortar, chipped stone and large stones and occasional red brick. The alignment of these sections of the wall fitted well into the visibly extant remains of the town wall directly to the south of these trenches. The ditch was identified on the west side of the town wall in all three trenches. An investigation of the nature of the ditch was carried out in T1 where it measured 3.2m wide and 0.8m deep.

The robbed-out remains may have been reused in the construction of Indaville House, a 19^th-century villa, or indeed its associated gate lodge, summer house and garden paths. Given that the town wall comprises non-distinct rubble stone it is would not be possible to distinguish this reused stone in these buildings. Due to the presence of a group of protected beech trees located along the probable line of the town wall it was not possible to assess its entire length.

No archaeological features or stratigraphy were identified in any of the other test trenches opened within the garden areas of the site (T6-T13 and T16-T19).

Courtney Deery Heritage Consultancy Ltd, 65 Mountain View Drive, Boghall Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow.