County: Wexford Site name: Rosbercon, New Ross
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WX029-013 Licence number: 24E0104
Author: Maeve McCormick
Site type: Modern walls
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 671424m, N 627777m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.396859, -6.950509
Test excavation was undertaken on lands at Rosbercon, New Ross, Co. Wexford on the 6th of February 2024. A total of 7 trenches were excavated across the site. Two additional test trenches were excavated across the northern portion of the site in May 2024.
The northern half of the site is located within the Zone of Notification for the Historic town of Rosbercon, Irishtown and New Ross (WX029-013). Both the 1st Edition OS map (1837) and the 3rd Edition OS map (1888-1910) show the northern section of the subject area to be labelled ‘Rosbercon Abbey (site of)’. The exact extent and location of this abbey has not previously been established, although previous excavation (95E0086, 1995:277) has found some walls and burials below Thomastown Road. The first phase of site assessment/test excavation (Feb 2024) revealed three modern features: a stone-filled pit (C11), a north-west/south-east aligned foundation wall (C14) and a north-east/south-west aligned foundation wall (C15) in this area of the site. An undated rubble dump (C13) was also recorded. As both the pit (C11) and the rubble (C13) were undated, it was concluded that these areas warranted further assessment in order to establish their date and extent and, in particular, to establish if they comprised portions of masonry structures associated with The Dominican Friary of St Mary’s (WX029-013007). The second phase of test excavation (May 2024) revealed the rubble dump C13 and stone filled pit (C11) to be part of a north-east/south-west aligned, modern wall (C16) with red brick at the base.
No evidence of the friary and nothing of archaeological significance was recorded during the works.
Archer Heritage Planning, Unit 1, Tenure Business Park, Co Louth A92 K2VF
