EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Tipperary
saw the building of the present Cathedral, modifications to Cormac’s Chapel in the later
Middle Ages and the use of its interior for burial in the early modern period.
A feature of the pre-Cormac Chapel phases was the evidence for a division between the east
and west end of the site. No evidence for any burials was uncovered to the west of the
chancel arch and north tower of Cormac’s Chapel, except for one strange example in Area 2.
Some indications that a formal physical boundary existed between these two areas was
identified in the later pre-Chapel phases in the form of the cut feature with a stone fill. This
evidence for the division between the sacred and profane is comparable to other sites
including Reask, Co. Kerry (Fanning 1981).
The pottery assemblage from the site included a modest quantity of medieval pottery and at
least one sherd of B ware (Late Roman Amphora). A series of coarse unglazed red wares and
a single sherd of reduced black ware were also identified in the lower levels of the site
stratigraphy. Other finds from the site included a kidney-shaped pin, stick-pins, a bone crutch
headed pin, spindle whorls, a parallelepiped antler die, comb fragments and a large quantity
of animal bone. Traces of antler working were also identified. Comb-making was the only
trade to leave any manufacturing traces on the site.
Fig. 266: Plan of excavated areas in the interior and exterior of Cormac’s Chapel, Co.
Tipperary (after Hodkinson 1994, 168).
References:
Hodkinson, B. 1994. Excavations at Cormac's Chapel, Cashel, 1992 and 1993: a preliminary
statement. Tipperary Historical Journal, 7, 167–74.
Lynch, A. 1983. Excavations at the base of St. Patrick’s Cross, Cashel. North Munster
Antiquarian Journal, 25, 9–18.
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