1990:062 - GALWAY: Merchants Road IV, Townparks, Galway

The rescue excavation at Merchants Road IV, Galway, took place from 21–30 March 1990. The site covered a relatively small area (14.65m north-south x 11m east-west) which was being excavated in advance of development. The location of the medieval city wall was known from previous excavations at the adjoining sites to the east and west, Merchants Road II and III (see Excavations 1989, 28-29 and Excavations 1990, no. 61) respectively. The wall was underlying some disused modern concrete sheds at the northern end of the site. Only the southern face of the medieval wall was within the excavation area. It was in poor condition, probably due to disturbance caused when the overlying sheds were built. Some of the masonry was loose and a short section of the wall face 0.3m in length, was missing. The wall was composed of randomly-coursed limestone masonry and was built on the natural soil and bedrock.

The ground south of the wall had been infilled with rubble to a depth of 1.5m. At this level a silted layer of dark grey coarse sand was located. The layer had an average depth of 0.3m and was composed of small water-rolled pebbles, sea-shells and fragments of brick and slate. This material had obviously been deposited here by water lapping against the base of the medieval wall. There were 360 pottery sherds present in this layer. The sherds were small and worn, as a result of having been washed and rolled along the river-bed. The majority of the pottery is post-medieval and mainly falls into the late 17th- to early/mid 18th-century period. There are smaller numbers of later 18th-century sherds as well as some late medieval continental imports from France and Spain. Other finds include 15 clay pipe stem fragments, including one decorated example, 27 fragments from green glass bottles, a very worn copper coin and some animal bone. This layer was overlying both the natural soil and a dark brown organic layer, which appeared c. 1m south of the base of the medieval wall. The organic layer dropped sharply to the south reaching a maximum depth of 0.75m, between the outcrops of bedrock 4m south of the wall. The texture of this layer varied from a compacted peaty soil to a sticky wet clay.

The upper levels contained flecks of the silted material from the overlying layer. This layer also contained moderate inclusions of medium-sized stones, sea-shells, flecks of brick and slate, hazelnut shells, wood and a few strips of waste leather. There were 49 pottery sherds present, mainly post-medieval English wares, with some local wares and a few late medieval continental imports. Other finds included 27 green glass bottle fragments, 2 undecorated clay pipe stem fragments, a few small pieces of worked wood and some animal bone.

The 1651 pictorial map of Galway's fortifications shows a small moat, supplied by the River Corrib, extending eastwards along the base of the southern curtain wall, The moat is banked on the south by a narrow headland, which is divided into several garden plots. The excavated area appears to be located at the point where the moat opens out into the river. The moat would appear to have been a relatively recent addition to the town's defences in 1651 as it is not represented on the earlier maps (Gooch 1583 and Speed 1610).

38 Lower Newcastle, Galway