2024 marked the 40th anniversary of the completion of the first report of the Urban Archaeological Survey (UAS) in May 1984. For the first time since, the reports which were produced by the UAS, are being made available to the public as searchable PDFs on the National Monuments Service website. 2024 also marked 10 years since John Bradley passed away in November 2014. John organised and led the Survey during its first 10 years of ground-breaking research on Irish historic towns. The publication of the reports online is therefore an opportunity to honour the memory and legacy of John, a native of Kilkenny city, who lectured and published extensively on urban archaeology.
Only a few copies of each report was ever printed, and while they were provided to County Libraries and to Local Authorities, they were never made broadly available to the public. In 2022 the Archaeological Survey of Ireland decided to carry out the scanning of the reports in order to make them available to the general public as an online resource.
You will find links to the PDFs of the UAS reports in the Collections section of the NMS website. Simply click on the report you wish to read, and enjoy this wonderful resource. An introduction presenting the genesis and an overview of the UAS is also available, which includes a selected bibliography of articles and monographs published by John Bradley and other members of the Survey over the years during and since the Survey took place.
Of course, as these reports were produced 30 to 40 years ago, the information they contain is of its time and may not always be correct any more – for more up-to-date information, make sure to also check out the Historic Environment Viewer.