County: Tipperary Site name: Tyone
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 12E0435 (Extension)
Author: Mary Henry Archaeological Services
Site type: Workhouse complex
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 587125m, N 678534m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.857568, -8.191177
Monitoring was undertaken as part of redevelopment works at Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary. The re-development works are phased, carried out over a number of years. The site is set within the grounds of the former Nenagh Union Workhouse, and located to the rear of the hospital grounds site is a burial ground, demarcated on Ordnance Survey maps and situated at the north-eastern end of the site. This burial ground belonged to Nenagh Union Workhouse, which was built in the 1840s. Human remains were uncovered in December 2011 and January 2012 beyond the known boundaries of this burial ground, whilst site enabling works, as part of redevelopment works within the grounds of the hospital, were being undertaken during the winter of 2011/2012. In addition, the hospital site includes buildings listed as Protected Structures within the site curtilage in the Nenagh Record of Protected Structures, 2013-2019.
During the cutting of a new east-west aligned watermain the remains of the boundary wall was revealed. With only its south-facing section exposed, this wall was preserved in situ. Whilst monitoring the soil stripping of the main site, the partial remains of an earlier ground surface were revealed in the form of a narrow north-south corridor immediately below the line of a hedge. It is considered this surface is associated with the Nenagh Union Workhouse. Just midway to the north of its most northerly exposure, a number of small bones in very bad condition, including vertebrae, were revealed on the surface. Due to the discovery of human remains in relatively close proximity during previous monitoring works, their provenance was verified by an osteo-archaeologist who confirmed they were of animal origin. Regarding the substantial east-west aligned wall, consisting mainly of a foundation and revealed in the northern aspect of the main site, it is considered to be part of the earlier workhouse complex dating to the 19th century.
17, Staunton Row, Upper Gladstone St, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
