House - medieval

The National Monuments Service's description

A stone-walled undercroft (int. dims. 10.95m N-S; 8.4m E-W; max. surviving H 2.4m) was constructed just 3.4m W of St Peter's church (WA009-005023-), probably in the 13th century, over the remains of the defensive Viking bank and wall (WA009-005006-) and in part of the ditch fill. A doorway (Wth 1.15m) in the N wall had eight steps leading down to it from Peter St., and there was a window embrasure in the E wall. The walls (Wth 0.9-1.45m) were faced and plastered internally, and the W wall had two cupboards. Two wooden barrels, which functioned as cisterns, and a stone-lined well (diam. 0.7m; D 1.5m) were set into the floor. A stone-lined cess-pit outside the structure to the S was later incorporated into the undercroft when it was extended to S (int. dim. 15.7m N-S). The new S wall contained a garderobe chute which emptied into a cesspit (dims. 3m E-W; 1.7m N-S) with a wooden covering, inside the undercroft. Wooden beams were added to support the roof or an upper floor but there was no evidence of vaulting. The floor was covered with a rough cobbled surface through which a drain was inserted against the N and S walls. The undercroft was backfilled in the late 14th/early 15th century. An alternative interpretation of the construction sequence, which suggests four major phases beginning at the S and expanding N towards Peter St., has been propounded by the excavator (Gittins 1998; E000343). (Youngs et al. 1988, 300; Scully 1997e, 178-81)

Gittins, A. (1998) An alternative interpretation of a medieval undercroft excavated in Waterford, Decies, No. 54, 3-18.
McCutcheon, S. (1997b) Section 6 (iv) 'Catalogue of houses (d) Bakehouse Lane, Insula South'in M. Hurley et al., Viking age and medieval Waterford: excavations 1986-1992, 164-75.
Scully, O.M.B. (1997a) Section 6: (v) The stone undercrofts. in Hurley et al. Late Viking age medieval Waterford: excavations 1986-1992, 176-85. Waterford Corporation.

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.

Date of upload/revision: 23 December 2008