Historic town in Borris Little,clonminam,kylekiproe,maryborough,moneyballytyrrell

In 1556 the Laois 'campa', known to the English as 'Fort Protector' (LA013-041001-) or the Fort of Leix', was renamed Maryborough in honour of Queen Mary. The fort attracted settlers and a map of about 1560 shows a small walled town around the fort at that date. Maryborough was granted a market in 1567, borough in 1569 and was incorporated by charter of Elizabeth I in 1570 (Bradley et al. 1986, 49). The medieval town consists of a walled town (LA013-041006-) enclosing a large settlement with a plantation castle (LA013-041001-) in the centre and a circular tower or castle (LA013-041003-) of sixteenth century date , a church (LA013-041002-) and graveyard (LA013-041004-) and a mill (LA013-041005-). Many settlers moved into the town and the Elizabethan fiants record a particularly high number of property grants between 1569 and 1571. In 1635 the town obtained a grant of two fairs from Charles I and in 1646 the town was captured by Owen Roe O'Neill but was subsequently retaken by Lord Castlehaven (Bradley et al. 1986, 49). The original market place was probably in Main street in the area between the south side of the street and the fort (LA013-041001-) if one is to judge from the map of 1721. The late medieval church and graveyard was located outside the plantation fort (LA013-041001-) to the west. The map of c. 1560 shows 14 houses and are depicted as gabled single floor structures with a loft on the first floor; all have a central heart. Nothing remains of these houses today although some of the narrow lanes opening southwards from Main Street have tall narrow houses built over them, parts of which may be seventeenth century in date (Bradley et al. 1986, 51). The map shows only one definite street, that entering from the west immediately south of the fort's rectangular tower and exiting through the east wall. This can be tentatively identified with Bridge Street and the eastern section of Main Street (Bradley et al. 1986, 50). The map also shows a break in the west wall immediately north of the fort. This also appears to signify a street which curved southwards around the fort's circular tower. Today, this can be identified with the southern portion of Church Avenue and Church Street, and perhaps with the southern part of Church Avenue. It is clear from the location of the seventeenth century church outside the fort that the town began to expand westwards in the seventeenth century. Railway Street and the western parts of Main and Church Streets probably belong to that time (Bradley et al. 1986, 50-1). Jessop Street, Portlaoise Test excavation was undertaken here by Dominic Delany under licence no. 99E0392, before planning, from 16 to 20 July 1999. The site is north-west of the remains of the 16th-century fort and church of Maryborough (now Portlaoise). Much of the site was formerly occupied by a large, early 20th-century ironworks known as 'Kelly's Foundry'. The foundry buildings were cleared in the early 1990s. The site was covered with hardcore fills, crushed rubble and concrete slabs at the time of testing. Testing comprised the mechanical excavation of ten test-trenches. The hardcore, crushed rubble and concrete slab surfaces occasionally overlay modern deposits but more frequently overlay the light yellowish-brown, clayey sand subsoil, which was encountered at an average depth of 0.4m. The subsoil yielded occasional modern and post-medieval pottery sherds. It had an average thickness of 0.3m and overlay the orange or reddish-brown, natural, clayey sand. Two post-medieval linear features were encountered. A linear feature at least 22.5m long, in Trench 2, probably represents a post-medieval field or property boundary, but the origin of a short (5.65m) linear feature in Trench 9 could not be established. Both features were relatively shallow and sterile and would appear to be of limited archaeological interest. A series of walls (2m high, 0.4m wide) and a stone-lined drain were encountered in Trench 6. The walls represent a subsurface structure, but their origin could not be established. They are very distinctive in that they are almost entirely faced with rounded cobblestones, an unlikely building material. However, this is not unusual for Portlaoise, as many of the surviving 19th-century sheds and outbuildings in the town are similarly constructed (Bennett 2000, 153-4). Fintan Lalor Avenue Assessment and subsequent monitoring were undertaken by Paul Stevens for Margaret Gowan Ltd. Under licence no. 00E0104, along the route of a proposed natural gas pipeline installation in Portlaoise town. This development connects various parts of the town to the gas main and crosses into the area of archaeological potential identified in the Urban Archaeology Survey of County Laois. Test-trenching was carried out in March 2000, under licence, and archaeological monitoring of the pipeline followed shortly afterwards. One of the three proposed trenches was opened. This trench was 5.7m by 1.9m by 1m deep and was close to the supposed southern corner of the outer town defensive ditch in Fintan Lalor Avenue. Nothing of archaeological significance was revealed. Subsequent monitoring of construction was undertaken following approval by Dúchas The Heritage Service for the development. The pipe-trench was located within Fintan Lalor Avenue, a modern road constructed in 1996; however, here the pipeline ran close to the supposed southern corner of the outer town defensive ditch as defined within the area of archaeological potential for Portlaoise. A single linear slot-trench was opened by a trenching machine and JCB; it was 520m long, 0.5m wide and 1-1.1m deep, commencing from the south-western end of Fintan Lalor Avenue (connecting with the section of gas main already laid) and extending to the Garda Station roundabout. Monitoring revealed modern road-fill and subsoil; no archaeological deposits or activity were noted (Bennett 2002, 187). Portlaoise Gaol and Courthouse The present structure was built in the late eighteenth century as a gaol, possibly replacing an earlier one. (The adjoining courthouse, built at the same time, replaced an earlier courthouse destroyed by fire.) It served this function until 1830, and in recent years housed the town's public library. Current plans to reconstruct it and the adjoining buildings as an arts centre necessitated an archaeological investigation, as the complex adjoined the old churchyard of St Peter's (LA013-041002-004-). Three cuttings were excavated by Thaddeus C. Breen under licence no. 96E365 in the courtyard. In two, soil containing brick rubble with mortar fragments was found to a depth of approximately 2m below the present surface. An intact ceramic pipe 0.3m in diameter, probably a sewer, was also found at this depth. Finds from these cuttings comprised pottery of mainly eighteenth-century date (possibly some nineteenth-century), along with glass and clay pipe fragments. In the third cutting two skeletons were found (one incomplete owing to disturbance). They were identified as male, aged 23-25 and 25-30. The causes of death could not be ascertained. Traces of a coffin were present in one case, and it appears to have been slightly too small for the corpse. The skeletons were found at a depth of 1. lm and were oriented north-south, with their heads to the south. Part of a third skeleton was noted in the baulk but not excavated. Beside them, at a lower level, was the base of a stone wall or foundation, at least 0.8m thick. The top of this wall was 1.54m below the present surface, and above this was rubble similar to that found in the other cuttings. The presence of eighteenth- and possibly nineteenth-century material in the layer into which the burials were placed suggests that they represent part of a burial-plot attached to the gaol. The wall may be part of an earlier gaol building. Archaeological testing and monitoring were carried at the courthouse and old gaol, Portlaoise, Co. Laois, from December 1997 to February