1992:096 - 'THE CLAREEN', Townparks, Tuam, Galway

Excavations were carried out in advance of the laying of a new sewage pipe by Galway Co. Council and were funded by that body. The dig took place in a field located between Vicar St on one side and the grounds of St Mary's Church of Ireland Cathedral (which is set back some distance from the Galway Rd.) on the other.

Before excavation it was obvious that a series of banks and ditches, some low mounds, drains and earthworks were present. A large arc of what was presumed to be an Early Christian ecclesiastical enclosure running from the grounds of the Cathedral in the direction of Tuam Mart was also apparent. There was local knowledge of a feature called Srufan Bride, St Brigid's Stream, which was said to connect up with St Jarlath's Well, or Tober Jarlath nearby. Furthermore the local name for the area was An Clam, a name which is suggestive of boards, planks, stakes, sticks, wattles, or a togher. Pottery was also said to have been made in the vicinity as well as at Killaloonty nearby.

Excavation along a 2m-wide trench running most of the length of the field produced evidence of a cobbled surface or surfaces over an area of several hundred sq. m. It was cut across in places by a late stone-lined field drain and the 19th-century garden plot to the rear of houses in Vicar St had destroyed some of the cobbling. The cobbled surface had been parched in some places and dug into in others and extended both within and without a thick cashel-like wall which had been substantially robbed out. This enclosing feature had been reduced to a mound of earth and small stones on which only a short segment of the outer facing of large stones survived. The facing was, however, discernable in the field to either side of the excavated area. This large enclosing wall had been robbed out in the late medieval or post-medieval period. The cobbled surface post-dated the robbed out enclosure.

Among the finds made on its surface was a series of horseshoes. Some distance to the south of the robbed out wall was a U-shaped ditch. This was sectioned and it was clear that this too had been cobbled over along its sides and right into the ditch itself.

Running at an angle across the site was a deep V-shaped canalised stream. This had been bridged over in one area for a short distance with lumps of pine, oak and yew. The bridge-like togher may have been robbed out over much of the length of the features. The sides of this stream had been lined for at least part of its length with branches and sticks. Some of these were up to 4m in length and one sample proved to be a log pole of yew with chop-marks at one end. The ditch clearly pre-dated the cobbled layer. There were 3 layers of rough cobbling overlying the V-shaped ditch and its 'bridge' of wood. The ditch produced a complex series of organic layers of bone, wood and portion of a small perforated amber bead. Some of the sticks which lay in the sides of the drain were narrow and wattle-like but only one or two apparently intertwined 'woven' pieces were found. Among the most interesting finds from the V-shaped drain was an enigmatic piece of worked wood of uncertain function. The V-shaped ditch was obviously deliberately cut, possibly on the site of a natural feature and it would seem that this corresponds to the Srufan Bride which runs across the field, underneath houses in Vicar St and has been canalised in modern times beneath the garden of the Health Centre. It continues along the CIE property alongside the railway line in the direction of Tober Jarlath, a well to which there used to be a large pilgrimage until it was blocked up in the 19th century.

The ditch which ran some distance outside the robbed-out boundary of the ecclesiastical enclosure also produced very large quantities of bone. The enclosing feature was unusual in that it was not completely stone-built. The outer face was stone-faced but the core seems to have been of earth and small stones and the inner face was a sloping embankment and was faced with small stones embedded at an angle in the inside face of the feature. The wall may have been robbed out to build the present enclosing wall around the medieval Cathedral.

The cobbled surface would seem to relate to the 13th-century grant of a licence to the Archbishop of Tuam for the holding of a market at Tuam. This market was subsequently moved to The Square in the 17th century. It was clear that the cobbled surface had been in use over a long period and that the ditch outside the enclosure and the V-shaped drain may have had a role in keeping the place clean. Generally the cobbled surface was overlaid by deposits containing much bone. The cobbling in many areas overlay a dark organic layer containing oyster shell and bone and in many areas the undulating ground beneath had been levelled up with boulders and re-deposited boulder clay. Some stone settings, areas of re-deposited yellow daub, depressions and hollows cut across and underlay the cobbled surface.

Two small mounds which were also excavated produced 19th-century builders' rubble, clay pipes and worked stone dating to the refurbishment of the Cathedral in the 1860s and 1870s. Beneath these were several much earlier ditches.

Finds included Saintonge pottery - probably of a late type, a lug from a Saintonge chafing dish of 16th/17th century-type and fragments of a somewhat earlier lobed cup of the same fabric. Local copies of imported wares and products of the Killaloonty or more local kilns were also found. Lumps of potters clay also suggest that the tradition of pottery being made in the area is correct. Among the later material were Buckley type wares, North Devon Gravel Tempered wares and a variety of local wares with an orange fabric. Some sherds of Spanish olive jars were also found. The subsequent finding of a pottery kiln by Ann Connolly in excavations in High Street, nearby is of interest since a comparison of the post-medieval ceramics from the area can now be made (see no. 97, 1992).

The other finds included quern fragments and a fragment of a possible trough quern, a variety of 17th to early 20th-century clay pipes, a pipe clay wig curler, some ridge tile fragments, lumps of stone and mortar from a destroyed building, a group of 6 horseshoes showing a variety of medieval to early modern forms, modern pottery and red brick marbles and some iron slag. Also found were iron staples, nails and washers. An 18th-century cartwheel penny from the Bristol Mint was also found. Large quantities of bone and some oyster shell were recovered from throughout the site.

The whole field is extremely rich in archaeological deposits and deserves to be studied in further detail. A carved Romanesque architectural fragment which was found else where in the field has been deposited in the Cathedral for safekeeping. The excavation report is to be published by the Crow's Rock Press, Galway in the near future.

11 College Road, Galway