2014:200 - WATERFORD: Chairmans Arch, Waterford

Excavations took place in January/February 2014 ahead of a housing development on property in the ownership of Waterford City Council. The excavations took place to a depth up to 4.6m OD, i.e. between 1.4m to 1.5m below ground level. The excavation concluded as the depths reached satisfied the requirement to excavate to the foundation levels and an additional 0.5m buffer zone.

The truncated remains of several stone- and brick-built walls were revealed. Of these, a substantial rectangular stone-walled building fronting Chairman’s Arch was considered to be of late medieval date, possibly of late 13th-century construction, but having undergone rebuilding and occupation into the post-medieval to early modern period; the abandonment and backfilling of the building took place after the 17th century. While the medieval occupation and construction levels of the buildings were not generally reached, there were strong indications that the building was a medieval undercroft (basement level building) and medieval occupation levels survive beneath the levels reached by the excavation. The in situ preservation of the walls of the rectangular building was recommended and the foundation layout of piles was adjusted to achieve this end.

The walls to the north of the medieval building were generally of post-medieval to modern date but a portion of one wall appears to adjoin the medieval undercroft, consequently its preservation was also recommended. A modern concrete block-built subfloor pit damaged part of the north walls of the medieval building, but on removal of this, the lower levels of the medieval wall were seen to be present below the pit.

Stratified layers of medieval date were reached in the western side of the site, in particular in the south-west quadrant, where a layer of roofing slate sealed the underlying stratigraphy, consequently the excavations were terminated at 5.4m OD (c. 0.4m higher than levels reached elsewhere on the site) in order to ensure in situ preservation of intact medieval stratigraphy.

The site was partially backfilled with stone, leaving the outline of the walls requiring preservation clearly apparent.

Two hundred and eighty-four sherds of pottery in total were recovered from the excavation. These included fifty-three sherds of medieval pottery. The earliest pottery present were sherds of Ham Green ware but in general the majority of the sherds were of types more typical of the late 13th/early 14th century. Overall the earliest features excavated are of late 13th- or early 14th-century date or later as the assemblage is dominated by Saintonge ware, Leinster cooking ware and Waterford-type jugs, all of which belong to the later part of the spectrum of medieval pottery and may have continued in use for some time after production of these types of vessels ceased in the mid-14th century. Of the late medieval/post-medieval imports, three sherds of a coarseware olive jar are probably of Seville origin, although the form cannot be closely paralleled. There are also two sherds of faience probably also from Seville. Other pottery of Iberian origin were two sherds of unglazed red ware, a type of Portuguese pottery known as Merida. Four sherds of pottery from the excavation are likely to be of North Italian origin. Of these a semi-complete costrel can be positively identified as a mid 17th-century product of Pisa. A small bowl decorated with incised lines known as sgraffito may also have been made in Pisa but it is lacking one diagnostic feature, namely the addition of orange to the green glaze. Two sherds are tentatively identified as a product of Montelupo, having blue and white decoration of the type known as ‘alla porcellana’. The majority of post-medieval ceramics were of English and Irish origin It is possible that some local ceramics were copies of North Devon types but the import of North Devon wares certainly peaked in the second half of the 17th century and they occur widely.

The assemblage of clay pipes from the excavation was unusual in that all but one of the pipes are imported, with the vast majority being of Bristol origin, dating to the mid 17th century. Most of the pipes were found in a midden layer associated with mid-17th-century ceramics. All of the pipes are parralled by examples found elsewhere in Waterford.

Subsequently a strip of ground, c. 1.5m to 2m wide which remained unexcavated at the western boundary of the site became available for excavation; no significant archaeological finds were made within the depths excavated. Test pits were also excavated in areas where services were proposed within the laneway of Chairman’s Arch but no significant archaeological material was uncovered.