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AR01055_EMAP_Gazetteer_of_Sites_4-2_10.pdf - The Heritage ...

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Wexford<br />

Bride Street, Wexford, Co. Wexford<br />

Scandinavian Urban Settlement.<br />

Grid Ref: T04902130 (30490/12130)<br />

SMR No: WX037-032<br />

Excavation Licence: E000438<br />

Excavation Duration/Year: 1980s<br />

Site Directors: E.C. Bourke (Office <strong>of</strong> Public Works)<br />

A number <strong>of</strong> Scandinavian houses were uncovered in the Bride Street area <strong>of</strong> Wexford. <strong>The</strong>se<br />

were predominantly composed <strong>of</strong> three-aisled, sub-rectangular, wattle-and-daub walled<br />

houses (Fig. 318). <strong>The</strong> one exception (House 1a) was plank-built, with sharpened boards<br />

driven into the marl. This building had an attached lean-to structure, built in the same way,<br />

which appears to have had a wicker internal dividing wall. A bone pendant, dated c. A.D.<br />

1050, was found in the back yard <strong>of</strong> this structure. <strong>The</strong> remainder <strong>of</strong> the Bride Street houses<br />

consisted <strong>of</strong> a centre aisle with a central hearth, and two side aisles, each containing a<br />

bedding area and storage areas. On average they measured 7.6m by 5.6m, and would<br />

appear to have been demolished and replaced after 20 or 30 years. <strong>The</strong> houses all appear to<br />

have had enclosed yards at the rear. <strong>The</strong>se seem to have been used for industrial or foodrearing<br />

purposes, for example one yard showed evidence for a small pen (possibly for pigs),<br />

as well as leather-working debris. Finds from the houses, and their yards, included bronze<br />

pins, bone pins, sherds <strong>of</strong> un-glazed pottery, and iron slag. A bone pendant with<br />

Ringerike/Urness design, dated stylistically to c. A.D. 1050, was found in one <strong>of</strong> the<br />

structures.<br />

Fig. 318: Plan <strong>of</strong> house at Bride Street, Wexford (after Bourke 1995, 33).<br />

References:<br />

Bourke, E. M. 1988-9. Two early eleventh century Viking houses from Bride Street, Wexford, and<br />

the layout <strong>of</strong> properties on the site. Journal <strong>of</strong> the Wexford Historical Society, 12, 50–61.<br />

Bourke, E. M. 1995. Life in the sunny south-east: housing and domestic economy in Viking<br />

and medieval Wexford. Archaeology Ireland, 9(3), 33–6.<br />

720

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