EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Waterford
and Bath ‘A’ wares from their primary levels (Fig. 288). Sherds of southeast Wiltshire glazed
pottery and Ham Green wares from the backfilled material of these structures indicate that
the buildings had fallen out of use by the mid-twelfth century. The tradition of stave-built
houses was confined to sunken floored structures in Waterford until the mid-twelfth century
(Hurley 1997d, 41).
Fig. 288: Artistic reconstruction of sunken building in Peter Street, Waterford (after Hurley et
al. 1997, 48).
Type 6 sill beam structures were constructed from the early-twelfth century in Waterford.
These houses were built using substantial load-bearing upright earth-fast timber posts in the
perimeter walls connected by horizontal ground beams called sill-beams or base-plates. The
interior of the earliest of these buildings were similar to post-and-wattle type 1 houses and
consisted of a central clay-covered aisle, a central hearth and side-aisles (Scully 1997a, 38).
Later examples contained areas of internal stone paving often near the hearths and internal
house drains.
Over 21 sill-beam structures have been excavated in Waterford city (1986-92). The earliest
structures in the early-twelfth century were excavated in the Insula North- an area between
the western end of Peter Street and High Street with the latest at Arundel Square- at the
western end of Peter Street and High Street- dating to the early-thirteenth century (Scully
1997a, 38).
The first structures in the Insula North- the area between Peter Street (south), High Street
Arundel Square and Cooke Lane- were situated away from the street-frontage and might
indicate a population increase in the early-twelfth century. In contrast, the mid/late-twelfthcentury
sill beam houses were all located along street frontage indicating the increasing
importance of this type of building (Scully 1997a, 38).
A substantial stone and timber house with a possible timber upper storey was excavated at
the Insula North and dated to the third quarter of the twelfth century. The building was a
hybrid of the sill-beam house and the stone-footed type (below) and the structure’s closest
design parallel was the cruck house (McCutcheon & Hurley 1997, 154-64; Scully 1997a, 39).
The timber uprights supported the load-bearing element while the stone wall functioned as a
perimeter wall. The structure was classified by Wallace as a Type 7 Hiberno-Scandinavian
building (Scully 1997a, 39).
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