2002:0726 - GALWAY: 8 Abbeygate Street Lower, Galway

Monitoring of the excavation for foundations at 8 Lower Abbeygate Street, Galway, was carried out on 24 August 2002. The development consisted of the demolition of existing rear structures for the construction of a three-storey extension and the change of use of a listed building and protected structure to a retail unit. The demolition and alterations were monitored.

The three-storey extension required the excavation of three trenches for foundations. The stratigraphy encountered was a concrete floor, found across the entire yard, 0.1–0.15m thick, below which was rubble fill and the foundations of the boundary walls, which enclosed the yard. The rubble fill contained red and yellow brick, slate, occasional oyster and mussel shells, modern pottery sherds and several ceramic service pipes. The foundations of the boundary walls to the north-east and south-east were constructed of rubble and red brick, and that to the north-west was of concrete.

The excavation for the foundations was of a very limited nature and therefore revealed modern disturbed stratigraphy only and nothing of archaeological significance.