1989:050 - GALWAY: Whitehall Lane, Townparks (St Nicholas), Galway

A rescue excavation commenced at Whitehall Lane, Galway, on 23 January 1989. The site, located in the centre, was intended for redevelopment as part of the 1985 Urban Renewal and Finance Acts.

The area is located in the south-east corner of the medieval town and cartographic evidence suggests that it has been in use since then. Its close association with the medieval wall, 'Pipers Tower' and a substantial corner bastion were also significant, and Whitehall Lane which bounds the site to the south appears to have provided one access route to these outer defences.

The area covers approximately one third of an acre and since 1985 had been used as a public car park. At this time the houses on the east of the site had been demolished and the area levelled. In all, 14 trial trenches were dug, using a J.C.B., down to boulder clay which lay from 1m to 0.3m below the surface.

Several destruction layers were revealed, as well as wall foundations and floor layers. All indicated successive building phases throughout the last century. A beaded pipe stem at the base of one foundation dated it to between 1870 and 1910. Other foundations corresponded to those shown on the 1872 edition O.S. map.

A number of worked stone fragments were uncovered throughout all trenches, including broken window mullions. The earliest datable find was of a clay pipe bowl from between 1670 and 1690. This was the only time that underlying layers within a section could be accurately dated. With boulder clay occurring so quickly below ground level, a suitable building surface became readily available. Because of this, earlier structures are likely to have been continuously removed to make way for the next series. In effect, the cut stone fragments retrieved from the trenches and those re-used in the adjoining boundary walls seem to be the only surviving indication of medieval activity within this area.

Carrowgarve, Crossmolina, Co. Mayo