County: Galway Site name: GALWAY: Flood St/New Dock St
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Claire Walsh
Site type: Historic town
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 529765m, N 724929m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.270044, -9.052912
Archaeological site assessment was carried out in advance of development at a corner site at Flood St/New Dock St and Merchants Rd., Galway. The site measures c. 37m east-west by 41m north-south. The line of the medieval town wall of Galway crosses the southern part of the site. Six archaeological test trenches were excavated by mechanical excavator on 3rd and 4th September 1992.
Trenches 1 and 3 were located along the projected line of the medieval town wall.
Trench 1: measured 4m north-south by 4.6m east-west. Loose red-brick rubble fill was found to a depth of 1 .8m below ground level. At this depth, a soft mid-brown silt, with crushed marine shell occurred in one part of the trench to a depth of 2.7m. Below this was hard clay/bedrock, and water (tide) flooded the trench.
Of note is the presence of a rubble and mortar filled trench which extended east-west across the test trench; this was exposed below the modern fill, showing clearly in the brown silt. The stones are unshaped and vary from 0.2m to 0.6m–none has any evidence of even rudimentary dressing. The mortar is grey/white in colour and soft and decayed. The full width of the mortar- and rubble-filled trench was not determined due to the influx of water. It is possible that the mortar-filled trench represents the 'robber trench' of the town wall. The stone uncovered was not standing masonry, but is more likely to be stone rejected for use when the wall was levelled, probably in the 19th century. There were no finds.
Trench 3 measured 3.3m east-west by 5.3m north-south. The upper 2.3m was modern rubble fill. Only 0.3m of soft mid-brown clay silt remained in the lower part of the trench. At 2.6m below ground level, hard grey clay/rock was encountered. There was no evidence for the town wall in this trench. There were no finds.
Trenches 2, 4, and 5 were located within the walled area of the town. All revealed a 1 m depth of soft brown silt, below modern rubble, with rare animal bone and marine shell present. There were no finds.
Trench 6 was located outside the town wall and measured 4m by 4m. Ground level in this part was 0.9m below the level elsewhere in the building. Here 1.9m of loose rubble and redbrick fill overlay hard clay/rock and there were no finds.
15 St Brigid's Rd Upr, Drumcondra, Dublin 9
