Town defences in Dungarvan

The town defences centred on the 13th-century castle (WA031-040001-) and formed a square with the castle on the N side close to the NE angle. The wall ran SE from the castle (L c. 35m) to a C-shaped tower. From here it ran S to a square tower, and further S along the seafront to Jacknell St. (L c. 200m), W to St Augustine St. (L c. 230m), N to the seafront around Carbery's Lane (L c. 250m) and E to the castle (L c. 140m) (Fraher 1995). Excavations at six points along the defences (WA031-040010-) confirm the line of the walls, and provide evidence of a fosse. The walls appear to be late 16th century or 17th century in date, and no part of the defences are preserved above ground level. Excavation by C. Power (1990; unknown licence) at the N end of St. Augustine St. revealed a well (diam. 0.8m; min. D 1.35m) 3m W of a section of a wall (Wth 1m; L 2.7m). The wall is on the site of the town wall and may be part of it. At the Junction of Augustine St. and Emmet St. a section of a ditch (L 3.5m) was uncovered with 17th to 19th century deposits in its upper levels, and what may have been an earthen bank. (Power 1995) Excavation (97E0126) at Davitt's Quay, W of Dungarvan castle (WA031-040001-), revealed part of the town wall (Wth 1.3m) built at the high water mark, with stratified deposits suggesting a 17th century date for its construction (Pollock 1997a). Excavation (96E0306) at the site of the tannery just S of Dungarvan castle (WA031-040001-) recovered the town wall extending SE of the castle (L c. 35m) to a C-shaped corner tower (int. diam. c. 3.7m) (Pollock 1997c, 27). From here the wall ran S (L c. 70m) to a square tower (int. dims. c. 5m N-S; c. 5m E-W) at the E end of Quay Lane (ibid. 28-30). This pre-dated the wall, but became incorporated into it as a defensive tower. The wall was apparently built in the 17th century at the high water mark on the shingle beach. Shingle was deposited just inside the wall, interspersed with midden material, but no structures were recovered. Excavation (96E0174) at Davitt's Quay (IG 226187, 093090) between Carberry's Lane and Galwey's Lane and c. 20m S of the quay house-fronts identified a section of town wall (Wth 1.3m) at Dirty Lane and at the intersection with Galwey's Lane. (Pollock 1997a) Excavation (99E0115) at Carberry's Lane c. 30m S of the house-fronts on Davitt's Quay identified the foundations of the town wall parallel with the E side of Carberry's Lane. (Pollock 2000b) Archaeological monitoring (03E0889) of a sewer trench recovered evidence of a possible ditch associated with the town wall at the S end of Augustine St. (Tierney, J. 2006) Fraher, W. (1995) Dungarvan's town walls, in C. Power (ed.) Excavations in Dungarvan; a medieval town wall. Tipp. Hist. Jour. 8, 183-191. Pollock, D. (1997a) Davitt's Quay, Dungarvan: post-medieval town wall and later buldings, In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 1996. summary account of excavations in Ireland, 110-1, No. 386. Wordwell. Bray. Pollock, D. (1997b) Tannery, Dungarvan: medieval town, post-medieval town wall. In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 1996. summary account of excavations in Ireland, 111, No. 388. Wordwell. Bray. Pollock, D. (1997c) Further archaeological investigation of the town wall ahead of the Abbeyview development, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford (Licence 96E0306). Unpublished report, Author. Pollock, D. (2000b) Carberrys Lane, Dungarvan: Urban medieval/post-medieval. In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 1999. summary account of excavations in Ireland, 292-3, No. 844. Wordwell. Bray. Power, C. (1995) Excavations in Dungarvan - a medieval walled town? Tipperary Historical Journal, 183-206. Tierney, J. (2006a) Jacknell Street and Emmet Street, Dungarvan: Urban. In Bennett, (ed.) Excavations 2003: summary accounts of excavations in Ireland, 497, No. 1872. Wordwell. Bray. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore. Date of upload: 25th August, 2011.