2023:360 - Abbey Street, Keadew, Cavan Town, Cavan

The archaeological monitoring of exploratory groundworks was undertaken for Uisce Éireann’s Water Network Programme, Abbey Street, Cavan Town, located in the townland of Abbeyland and partially in the townlands of Keadew and Townparks in Cavan Town. The monitoring was carried out intermittently between 7 February 2023 and 4 April 2023 along Abbey Street conjoined with Bridge Street and Farnham Street within the Zone of Notification of the historic town, a Recorded Monument (CV020-055) and in proximity to two Recorded Monuments: a religious house (CV020-055002) and school (CV020-055007).
The groundworks comprised excavation of two open-cut trenches (T) along Bridge Street (T1) at the junction with Abbey Street and along Abbey Street (T2), six trial holes (TH 1–TH6) and thirteen exploratory trenches (T3–T15) to facilitate house connections and a valve on the main pipeline situated along the scheme route.
In T2, T11 and T12 opposite No. 18 Abbey Street and adjacent to the Abbey gate, underlying the modern street surface, at 0.3m below ground level, a 0.15–0.3m deep charcoal-rich deposit of dark blackish-grey gravelly sandy silt was uncovered. It extended 7.5m (north-south) by 3.5m and was heavily disturbed by the modern services. No features potentially associated with this deposit were revealed in any of those trenches, but a lump of iron slag and an amorphous vitrified object were recovered following investigation in T12. Based on those finds, we can assume that the deposit was a result of waste material from a metal-processing dump there, presumably in the late post-medieval or modern period, rather than evidence of burning of the Abbey that happened in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In the mid-1790s, there were two forges in the vicinity of Abbey Street, one on the corner of Abbey Street and Bridge Street and another on Bridge Street South.

The archaeological monitoring of ground works at Abbey Street did not reveal any human bones relating to the Abbey Graveyard, Protected Structure (RPS CV0001/NIAH 40000331) which were found during archaeological testing in 2021 at the adjacent site of the proposed Abbeylands Regeneration Project in Cavan town (21E0042; Farrimond and MacManus).
A stone culvert located along the eastern verge of Farnham Street and crossing Abbey Street was revealed in the westernmost extent of T2. It was running north-north-east/south-south-west along the eastern side of Farnham Street and measured 3.3m in width and approximately 4m in height and was covered with redeposited materials. The culvert was built of rectangular sandstone and was mortared. Channel vertical side walls which measured 0.5–0.6m in width were capped with an arch. Additional supporting arches were also noticed inside the channel. Modern service pipes were built in the culvert. The existing cast-iron pipeline was replaced with a new pipe installed across the culvert. This stone structure was built in the early nineteenth century to culvert the Kinnypottle River, tributary of the Cavan River, below Mail Coach road (now Farnham Street) and its outlet into the Cavan River is depicted on the historical Ordnance Survey maps of the town.

Fahy’s Road, Kilrush, Co. Clare