2015:283 - Waterford City, Waterford

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Waterford Site name: Waterford City

Sites and Monuments Record No.: Various in vicinity, within the Historic Town WA009-042 Licence number: 14E0324, C518, E004561

Author: Declan Moore

Site type: Urban

Period/Dating:

ITM: E 660674m, N 611713m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.253782, -7.111342

Monitoring was carried out for the Waterford City Watermains Rehabilitation Project Phase 3, Contract No .2 – Mains Rehabilitation. The works consisted of the rehabilitation of c. 28km of existing water mains and associated services on selected roads within and outside the zone of notification for the historic town of Waterford (WA009-050). The works were carried out between July 2014 and November 2015.

Previous testing in Patrick Street undertaken by Mary Henry Archaeological Services in 2012 exposed a feature at the location of the site of St Patrick’s Gate described as a foundation wall associated with the town defences. St Patrick's Gate was the main gate leading west out of the medieval town and was first mentioned in 1475. It was described as an archway with two flanking towers, in addition it may have had an outer barbican. Phillip’s Map of 1685 depicts it as an elaborate structure with a series of three gates. This gate was not finally demolished until the early years of the 19th century. In August 2014 the author re-exposed this feature in advance of pipe installation. The wall was found 0.38m below the existing tarmac and hard-core near the centre of the southern carriageway at (ITM E660440 N612407). It consisted of two to three courses of roughly hewn limestone blocks stone bonded with a sandy, yellow white mortar and measured 4.6m east-west. The wall appeared slightly bowed out or convex in plan. Near the northern terminal of the trench the wall was truncated by an east-west running modern service trench containing a cast iron main. The surrounding material was made up of modern deposits and natural gravelly brown sand. Following discussions with both the contractor and Mr. Mark Keegan, Archaeologist with the National Monuments Service, it was considered feasible to use this breach to install the new pipe. This was achieved avoiding any additional impacts on the masonry which was retained in situ.

The launch and receptor pits for directional drilling in King’s Terrace revealed only traces of modern backfill material upon older services. An open cut trench was cut across the width of Patrick Street at the crossroads between Carrigeen Park and Stephen Street. Below the tarmac and roadbase the fill of the trench was mostly shale bedrock although there was some modern disturbance evident within the trench.

In other sections of Patrick Street the pipe bursting technique was utilized requiring the excavation of a number of launch and receptor pits. There were no finds, features or materials of archaeological potential noted.

An open cut trench in O’Brien’s Terrace revealed bedrock along the entirety of the trench. A small section of Jenkin’s Lane was also open cut. This, along with the launch and receptor pits in Little Patrick Street, revealed a stratigraphy of modern builders' fill and rubble and a mid-dark brown sandy silt with moderate inclusions of gravel cut by a number of service trenches. No archaeological features or artefacts were identified.

A trench was excavated through the eastern edge of the road surface at O’Brien’s Street. The south-western end of the trench was excavated entirely through shale bedrock. In places where the bedrock was lower a dark-brown clay was situated immediately upon the bedrock which was quite loose and fragmented. This clay deposit appears to be a natural weathering of the bedrock. A well built red-brick manhole cover and several old clay service pipes were identified in the trench. No archaeological features or artefacts were identified.

An unscheduled trench was excavated on Bachelor’s Walk to re-supply water to the Malt House apartments after their supply had been unexpectedly cut. The trench was located between two upstanding sections of the city wall. Pipe bursting had occurred in this location during an earlier phase of the project. The excavated area had been previously dug with two concrete pipes running diagonally across the road; the fill of the trench was all rubble containing red-brick and slate fragments with crushed lime mortar. The old pipe had been laid directly onto shale bedrock.

A trench was excavated along the western edge of the road on Stephen Street. The stratigraphy was of modern rubble and infill below over both a natural mid orange, brown sandy silt with frequent inclusions of gravel and shale bedrock (0.2 - 0.3m below the road surface). Several old service pipes cut across, and ran alongside the trench. A cast-iron pipe surrounded by a red and yellow brick structure which was four courses in depth and was approximately 2.5m in length was exposed. It is unclear the function of this structure but it appeared to be associated with the old services. A sewage culvert, with red brick and lime-mortar walls and stone slabs for base and roof was located next to the junction with Bachelor’s Walk, orientated east-west. A second culvert was identified in the southern part of the trench, orientated in a north-west/south-east. Two old cast-iron pipes that had been laid directly upon the bedrock were also noted running along both edges of the trench in this location.

Monitoring along John's Lane took place between 28 and 30 of January 2015 in mixed weather conditions. Work progressed from the north-west to south-east from New Street towards Manor Street. The excavations were carried out along the middle of the northern lane approximately 2.5m from the kerbside. Generally from an inspection of the stratigraphy it was evident that the road had seen considerable disturbance in the past from previous service installations and road widening. Existing services included a cast main along the centre of the road and a storm drain nearer the northern kerbside; elsewhere along the road were old gas connections and some clay water and sewer pipe.

Of note outside Park Lane Apartments, 19 John's Lane in the vicinity of the Quaker Burial Ground (WA009-005123) there was considerable ground disturbance. This site had been previously been tested and excavated

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