Burial

The National Monuments Service's description

Excavation in 1999 of Cashel's medieval town wall and associated features was conducted before the construction of a library, adjacent to Friar Street (Gregory 2000, 286). The excavated area consisted of the N-S basal remains of the town wall, built c. 1265 (ibid.). The inner portion of the town wall was built on the remains of a substantial backfilled ditch that extended beyond the excavation area. Part of a human burial was recovered from the base of this ditch. The backfill contained 13th/14th-century pottery. It is probable that the pottery entered here during the backfilling phase. The nature of the backfill is consistent with bank material. It is possible that this ditch and bank arrangement has some association with the nearby St John's Cathedral. St John's Cathedral is on the site of an earlier, medieval church (TS061-025013-). Feehan's Road immediately to the south of St John's Cathedral describes a curve, which may be the boundary of an ecclesiastical enclosure. If the orientation of the low ridge on which St John's Cathedral stands is considered with the curve of Feehan's Road, it is not implausible that the backfilled ditch forms part of an ecclesiastical enclosure. The partially excavated remains of the human burial would substantiate an ecclesiastical perspective.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 31 July 2014

References

Gregory, N. 2000 Friar's Street, Cashel: Urban medieval. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1999: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 286. Bray. Wordwell.