2014:022 - FETHARD: Burke Street, Tipperary

Testing was undertaken as part of Further Information for planning permission to construct an extension to the rear of a dwelling house at Woodview, Burke Street, Fethard.

The proposed extension is within the constraint area the historic town of Fethard. The site of the extension is c. 30m to the east of the line of the eastern circuit of the medieval town wall. Furthermore a 17th-century house (TS070-040027) is located c. 25m to the west of the proposed extension site.

Two test trenches were opened on the footprint of the extension. The area in which trench No. 1 was opened comprised a large concrete surface overlying varying layers of in-fill. Immediately below the concrete was a very badly damaged cobbled surface dating to the late 19th or first part of the 20th century (see below). This surface was set within a very dark brown, almost black very silty clay which had been supported upon a band of re-deposited natural clay. The main fill within this trench consisted a stone- and cobble-rich context within a dark brown/black clay. It was evident that this material consisted of the disarticulated components of cobbled surfaces and their supporting layers, were probably of some antiquity and were obtained from a location possibly within the town. No dating evidence of any kind was identified or retrieved from this fill.

A date of late 19th/early 20th-century provenance is submitted for the cobbled surface at close proximity to the present ground surface; its associated layers seal the bulk cobble-rich infill. Obviously, the bulk fill would only have been removed once the components became obsolete. As technology improved and flooring/surface materials advanced, cobbling fell out of fashion for a number of reasons, with the more modern styles of scree, concrete and brick more in vogue.

The second trench comprised a modern lawn laid on top of the earlier topsoil, which most likely was utilised as a vegetable plot. Beneath this subsoil was a fill similar in every aspect to the bulk fill recorded in trench No. 1. As in the case of trench No. 1, no dating evidence was retrieved from within this layer.

The findings indicated the proposed ground works (strip foundations, which were not going to exceed 0.9m below present ground level), will not extend into archaeological layers/deposits, if such exist on the site.