Indicated — Cashel

Adjoining the rear of No. 8 Main Street. The properties on the S side of Main Street run NW-SE (described as N-S for convenience). Burke’s Lane (indicated as Maher’s Lane on the 25-inch OS map) runs from the Main Street southward, along the E side of No. 8 and the medieval building to the rear. In 1938 Joseph Raftery (National Museum of Ireland) described a 13th-century sculpted head (TS061-025083-) which was 'embedded in the wall of a castellated tower' (NMI files 1938). The head is inserted into the E wall of the building to the rear of No. 8 and this wall appears to have been largely rebuilt in 19th-century date. It also incorporates two re-used jambstones (TS061-025159-). The other side of this property is accessible from the carpark at the rear of No. 9 Main Street, and from there the W wall and W end of the S wall of the medieval building are visible. In the W end of the S wall of this building there is a blocked up medieval doorway (Wth c. 1m; H c. 1.73m; S wall H 2.77m) of which only the lower very eroded jamb survives and the W voussoirs of the doorway surround. The jamb, which is cracked and spalled, is chamfered. The doorway is 0.8m from the SW angle of the building. A later stone built building runs southward from roughly the E side of the doorway. A concrete plinth (L 2.22m N-S; Wth 1.79m; H 0.55m) occupies the angle between the medieval building and this later building. Only the ground floor of the medieval building survives (dims. N-S 9.07m; E-W c. 8m). It is roofless and functions as a yard, though against the internal E wall there is a lean-to shed, with a roof of corrugated sheeting, which occupies most of the interior. The W wall of the building (L 9.07m; Wth c. 0.8m; H 2.29m) is composed of limestone rubble roughly coursed. A wide vehicle access gate (Wth 2.79m) has been inserted mid-way along this wall, with a concrete pier on the N side and cut limestone blocks on the S side, the latter may be the remains of a window surround. Much of the N end of the wall N of the gate has an external concrete render. At some point, probably in the 18th/19th century, some of the cut-stone quoins at the SW angle were crudely rounded off. The rear of No. 8 is a two-storey building aligned N-S. In its S gable, there is a disused, centrally placed, projecting chimney, which has been truncated just below the apex of the roof. This may have functioned as the chimney for the medieval building, which would suggest that the rear of No. 8 is also medieval in date. See attached: TS061-025017-_01 Doorway in S wall and W wall, with chimney in S wall of No. 8 and rear of No. 9 and adjoining lane TS061-025017-_02 Detail of doorway at W end of S wall - exterior TS061-025017-_03 External SW angle of building TS061-025017-_04 External W wall of building TS061-025017-_05 External E wall of building (Urban Archaeological Survey, 1993) Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 14 March 2023