2016:285 - WATERFORD: St Patrick's RHU, John's Hill, Upper Grange Road, Waterford

As a request for further information (Waterford City and County Council Ref: P16/50), est trench Investitgation of the proposed site of a development at St Patrick’s RHU, John’s Hill, Waterford City took place on 17–18 May 2016.

A total of c. 181m of archaeological test trenches were excavated across the site, located to complement the findings of a previous site investigation (Magnus Archaeology 2015) and to answer specific research questions. No features pre-dating the Waterford Union Workhouse (1838–41) were uncovered at the site. The walls and parts of the floors of the main accommodation block of the workhouse survive below the ground. The building was demolished c.1990 along with some other late 19th-century buildings. A fine limestone flagstone yard surface was uncovered surviving in situ under the ground, to the rear of the main accommodation block.

A wall of the south wing extension of the Master’s House, dating to the late 19th century, survives below the ground.

The area of the Nuns’ Garden is highly disturbed from a previous development. Cultivation ridges were observed cut into subsoil, but appear to be modern in date, containing 20th-century pottery and butchered bone at the base.

No evidence of burials at the site was found during the investigations. The dry stone wall identified during monitoring (Magnus Archaeology 2015) appears to belong to a late 19th-century extension to the workhouse complex. Foundation walls of other late 19th-century buildings (extensions to the workhouse complex) are likely to survive across the site. No finds of archaeological significance were recovered during these investigations.

None of the features uncovered at the site pre-date 1838–41, the construction of the Waterford Union Workhouse.