2020:201 - Kedrah, Cahir, Tipperary

Subsequent to an archaeological and built heritage impact assessment from June 2019, a licence was granted to monitor upgrading works to a late 19th-century farmhouse which might impact upon the adjacent medieval tower-house. The location of potential impacts were identified as being: at the location of the farmhouse roof meeting the wall of the tower-house; removal and rebuild on the footprint of a 1980's extension of the rear of the farmhouse; creating a doorway between a new rear extension and the farmhouse; and any service duct excavation.
Monitoring, initially delayed, took place between 24 February and 1 June 2020. The monitoring entailed observing the slate removal from the farmhouse’s western extent, where the slate and flashing was set into the tower-house wall. This encompassed eight linear metres. Exposure of this identified that the original tower-house material was removed along the roof line on side to insert roof into the tower-house and place lead flashing over. Bonding agent was hard sand cement and grit with no lime mortar evident. Methodology of reroofing was to reinsert and seal into the same space with no intrusion into the medieval material. As a consequence all materials impacted were of 19th-century date and there were no negative impacts upon the tower-house.
The groundworks portion consisted of the rear of the 1980's extension concrete floor and excavation in preparation for foundations of a new extension at the same location which measured 17m east-west x 3m (NGR 206852 127981), and to an overall depth of 0.4-0.6m. Foundation trench removal was 0.5-0.1m in width. Including the removal of the concrete surface, the stratigraphy was 0.1-0.12m concrete, over 0.15 -0.3m ‘mill waste’, yellow brown sand and stone, over yellow gritty sand, with bedrock rising into the sand. Some red brick fragments were in the ‘mill waste’. No archaeological material or deposits were encountered.

Cashel, Co. Tipperary