2014:455 - Pembrokestown, Butlerstown, Waterford

The proposed development is for a visitors’ centre and working farm for shire horses. The site slopes steeply from east to west and the building is to be set into the field at roughly the centre of the site. An existing drainage pipe traverses the site, and the area at the north-west of the property is to have a percolation area for waste (this is the lowest point of the steeply sloped site). The testing was designed to cover the areas to be disturbed by the foundations of the building, the area of the percolation and the entrance into the site from the road. Nine trenches, 10m long, were excavated during testing. Despite the wealth of adjacent sites of known archaeological monuments ranging in date from the Late Stone Age to post-medieval remains, added to by recent sub-surface discoveries on road schemes to the north of the site, the testing showed a lack of any archaeological evidence, and a dearth of any finds, not even modern pottery, as would be usual in ploughed soil. The site had been overgrown with scrub up until recently (owner, pers. comm.), and perhaps the steep incline may have militated against its use for habitation or monument building in the past.

7, Bayview, Tramore, Co. Waterford X91 X462