2024:358 - 4 Castle Street, Enniscorthy, Wexford

Archaeological monitoring took place of redevelopment of a site at 4 Castle Street, Enniscorthy.  The ground works entailed excavation within the lane and small yard area. It commenced with deeper excavation at the front (south-west) end of the site. This involved excavation of a 3.5m (northeast to southwest) section of the lane for its full width (2.2m) and to a depth of 1.5m. The stratigraphy consisted of 0.05m concrete slab onto yellow-grey sand fill and stone for remainder. It contained inclusions of 19^th to 20^th-century slate, red brick fragments and mortar associated with the construction of the extant building. The south-west, north-east and south-west borders were defined by random rubble walls built to courses for full depth of excavation. A sewerage pipe was situated at the base of excavation.

A second phase of ground works was scheduled for monitoring. This consisted of duct trench excavation for the remainder of the lane and networked across the yard area. It involved shallower excavation at c. 0.6m depth. However, the archaeologist was not notified of these works. The National Monuments Services were notified and it was decided that as all ground works were now complete and occurred within 19^th-century strata and 20^th-century surface, a recording of the duct trench locations would be made and that the works could then resume. A total of 28m of duct trench had taken place, in which the trenches measured 0.3m to 0.4m in width. The ducts were set within a trench fill of pea gravel. The excavated soil retained on site was also examined. It consisted of yellow-grey sand and stone. It contained inclusions of 19th- to 20th-century slate, red brick fragments and mortar associated with the construction of the extant building.