County: Galway Site name: GALWAY: Eglinton Street, Townparks
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Miriam Clyne
Site type: Town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 529765m, N 725429m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.274536, -9.053023
The excavation, from 11 October to 2 November 1990, was funded by the developer. The former Garda Barracks, built in the late 19th century, had occupied the site. Prior to excavation, most of these buildings were demolished. The site was investigated for archaeological potential in advance of redevelopment. Nine areas were explored coinciding with those to be disturbed on the development plan.
The site was situated outside the north-east corner of the medieval town. In 1646, a polygonal bastion was built around the earlier Lion Tower. The location of this bastion, which was removed in the 1960s, was at the south-west boundary of the excavation site. Further fortifications were added outside the town wall in 1650 which included a demi-bastion at the north-east corner. The north wall of this demi-bastion is standing to a height of 6.4m in the adjoining properties to the south-east of the site.
The construction of the former Garda Barracks disturbed much of the earlier stratification. The stone foundations revealed in the excavation all belonged to the barracks. Two areas of cobbles were found, one of which was likely to have been contemporaneous with the use of the barracks and formed the surface of a yard to the rear. The second area of cobbles predated the barracks, but modern potsherds were found in the underlying stratum.
A rectangular tunnel containing water was revealed, the internal dimensions of which were 0.7m high and 1.5m long. It was built of mortared rubble limestone and granite masonry with the flat sides of the stones on the internal faces. The roof was of flat capstones. The tunnel was built on natural boulder clay and it predated the late 19th-century barracks. Cartographic evidence shows the tunnel to be on the site of the Little Gate River which ran outside the Lion Tower bastion until the early 19th century. The tunnel was possibly built to enclose the river and a date in the first half of the 19th century can be suggested for its construction.
The quantity of finds from the excavation was small and came mainly from disturbed contexts. The bulk of the pottery consisted of 18th- and 19th-century local and imported waxes, with a few imported medieval and late 17th-century North Devon sherds. Also found were clay pipes, post-medieval wine bottle fragments and modern glass.
Templemartin, Craughwell, Co. Galway
