County: Galway Site name: GALWAY: 65 Dominick Street Lower (Formerly The Galway Arms)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0223
Author: Anne Connolly, Archaeological Services Unit Ltd.
Site type: Building
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 529510m, N 725096m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.271511, -9.056774
Archaeological investigation at the site of a proposed development at 65 Dominick Street Lower, Galway, revealed previously unrecorded structural remains. Two existing buildings were demolished, and pre-development testing was carried out on 5 May 1998. Full excavation of the site was undertaken from 15 June to 10 July 1998.
The excavation revealed several phases of activity at the site. The most recent involved the construction of and adjustments to the recently demolished premises. The remains of walls and foundations and a drain date to this phase.
At an earlier stage the site was occupied by a building that appeared to broadly follow the line of the recently demolished buildings, facing along Dominick Street and Mill Street. The walls and foundations indicated that the building was rectangular. An external end wall on the Mill Street side and a rear wall on the Dominick Street side were not uncovered in the course of the investigation, and therefore an estimated size of this structure cannot be accurately given.
Underlying all other structures on the site were the remains of a broad wall. This wall and an associated stone facing and rubble fill appeared to represent the earliest activity on the site. The cartographic evidence suggests that the site was not occupied by domestic buildings until after 1691 at the earliest, and it is possible that the rectangular structure on the site forms a part of the streetscape as it is represented on the 1818 map. The wall is of impressive width, 2.8m across, and, although only a small portion of the structure was exposed, it is likely that this structure was part of a fortification strategically positioned to protect the west entrance to the city, currently the William O'Brien Bridge. Such a fortification may date to as early as 1625, when the presence of a fort in the general area to the west of the bridge was recorded on the Plot of Galway map. Alternatively, it could form a part of the triangular fort marked on the 1651 Pictorial Map. An insufficient area of the features has been exposed to allow a more detailed assessment of this earliest phase of activity on the site.
Purcell House, Oranmore, Co. Galway
