When excavation work was carried out at 24 Mary Street in the Burgagery-Lands area, the contractors did not have to dig far before the ordinary stratigraphy gave way to something more instructive.

The excavation, carried out under licence 93E0167, uncovered two distinct concentrations of medieval material at very different depths. One layer of organic occupation debris lay 2.6 metres below the present ground level, a considerable distance down, suggesting either significant accumulation of later deposits or a landscape that has changed substantially over the centuries. A second pocket of clays and organic material, measuring roughly 2.5 metres north to south and 4 metres east to west, and just over a metre deep, was found much closer to the surface, at only 0.62 metres down. Both were assessed as probably medieval in date. Together, the deposits were interpreted as the remains of at least two clay floors and three separate layers of occupation debris, the kind of sequence that points to a building used, repaired, and reused over time. Clay floors were a common feature of medieval domestic buildings, laid directly on the ground and periodically renewed as they became worn or dirty, so the layering here implies a structure that saw sustained habitation rather than a brief or temporary use.