County: Wexford Site name: Wexford Courthouse, Wygram Place, Wexford
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WX037-062-2 Licence number: 15E0492
Author: Bruce Sutton for Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd
Site type: Testing
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 704060m, N 621975m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.339498, -6.472916
The site is shown as a greenfield plot in the first edition OS map (1840–41) on the outskirts of Wexford Town. Two windmill stumps (WX037-061–2) are annotated in the green to the immediate west of the development site. A map dating to the late 18th century (c. 1772) shows 16 windmills in St John’s parish; this map is probably based on a lost Down Survey map.
Monitoring was undertaken in two main portions of the site: the garden area to the north-east of the Tate School, which was landscaped and partially converted to a car park, and the area to the south and south-west of the Tate School building, which was developed as the site of the new courthouse building. This portion of the site included the construction of a basement.
A stone box-drain was identified running east–west at the south-west of the site. The full extent of the drain was unclear as it extended beyond the limit of the excavation. It was located 1.5m below present ground level. It was constructed of local stone. The walls were two courses high (0.3m) with a 0.3m cavity between them and a capstone which covered the full width of the drain.
There was no indication of a building depicted in the north of the site on the first edition Ordnance Survey map (1840–41); however it should be noted that the ground was not reduced to the natural subsoil in much of this area.
No features of archaeological significance were identified across the development site.
Unit G1, Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow.
