1988:26 - GALWAY: Spanish Arch, Townparks,, Galway

A half acre site became available for redevelopment in the area around the 'Spanish Arch', Galway City and Galway Corporation funded an excavation on part of the site in order to determine its archaeological potential. The excavation took place over a period of 20 weeks during the summer.

The site covers an area which included the south-western corner of the medieval quayside. The town walls were mostly pulled down during the 18th and 19th centuries, and much of the land outside them was reclaimed in the early 19th century. Before the excavation started, all that could be seen above the ground was a 25m length of the outer face of the southern curtain wall and the 'Spanish Arch', which was thought to be part of a 16th century extension of the wall.

A total of 17 trial trenches were dug in all open parts of the site. A further 50m of the southern curtain wall was uncovered, as was a 15m length of the western wall. The wall is built of random coursed ashlar limestone masonry along the outer face and it has a rubble core. It averages 3.1m thick and survived from only 50mm below the present ground surface to a depth of 2.65m. It stands on a crude plinth of limestone and granite, which in turn stands on the esturine gravel.

Two sea gates lead through the wall, one from the sea which until the 18th century ran along the outer face of the curtain wall and the other from the river which ran along the outside of the western wall. These had been blocked up in the 16th century, when an extension was built out onto the river, creating a harbour along the eastern banks of the Corrib. Outside the wall lay redeposited material laid down mainly in the early 19th century when the area was being reclaimed. Most of it was archaeologically sterile and no trace of the quayside as depicted on the 1651 map of the city was found.

Inside the wall were the remains of up to four levels of a cobbled roadway which ran around the perimeter of the 'Spanish Parade', the main market place for the city in the Middle Ages. The earliest of these is well preserved, and was constructed with a steep camber and drains which ran along the sides and exited through the sea gates. This road pre-dates the blocking-up of the sea gates which probably occurred in the middle of the 16th century. The base of a small turret which can be seen on the 1651 map was also uncovered, as were traces of stone steps that led up to the wall-walk. There was no trace of the corner tower which stood at the south western return of the two walls before the 16th century extension was built.

Beneath the cobbled roadway were levels containing much environmental material and many fragments of worked wood. Nearby, 1.5m beneath the roadway, lay a short length of walling, possibly part of the original quay wall or the earliest wall that surrounds the town. These features have not yet been dated securely, but they may pre-date the building of the curtain walls in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Finds consisted mainly of late-medieval and post-medieval pottery, with blackware and tin glazed earthenwares predominating. Stoneware, gravel-tempered ware, sgraffito and slipwares were also found as was some late medieval glass. Other finds included leather, wood and metal objects and some medieval cut stone fragments.

In all about 30% of the total area expected to contain material of archaeological value has been excavated. The excavation will continue in 1989.

Archaeological Corporation, City Hall, Galway