1993:109 - GALWAY: Kirwan's Lane, Galway

Kirwan's Lane is an L-shaped lane situated between Quay St. and Cross St. in the centre of Galway City. An extensive portion of a streetscape dating to the 16th and 17th centuries is preserved on the north-eastern side, including the facade of two houses, the remains of another facade and the remains of what may be a tower house or mill. Two of the houses were almost virtually intact and contained some of the original timber work. The houses almost certainly predate 1651 when they seem to have been represented in the Map of Galway undertaken by the Marquis of Clanrickarde. They were built in the late 16th and early 17th centuries and the structures and features associated with the houses will therefore be described below as post-medieval. An exception may be made for the remains of a wall of dissimilar masonry and style at the end of the lane. A tower house was shown at this spot on a map dating to 1609, and the present remains may derive from it. Interestingly, the rear of the wall contains two blocked archways situated on a low level raising the possibility that they formed part of a mill race.

The site has been derelict for many years but its position within the Galway Urban Renewal Area provided the incentive for local developers to utilise it. In 1992, a local developer proposed to refurbish two of the houses on the lane and build on the site of possibly two other houses behind it. Prior to development, an extensive survey of the site was carried out by the Galway Archaeological Unit (see Excavations 1992, 29) when the impressive range of features, including stone fireplaces and window frames, were recorded. This was in addition to the more general survey of Galway undertaken by An Taisce in 1984 (directed by Jim Higgins) which included the Kirwan's Lane area.

The site was sold on to Cross Developments Ltd. who proposed to develop all three houses on the lane (Blocks 2–4), the tower house wall (Block 4A), the Cross St. block (Block 1) and a large area behind the post-medieval houses extending to the rear plots of Bridge St. (Block 5). Another survey (directed by the author) was carried out prior to development on the lower house (Block 4) when the original architectural/archaeological features were noted. They included the remains of three decorated stone fireplaces, two perfectly preserved semi-pointed archways in the interior of the house and the remains of a series of archways facing the street.

Significantly, the two fireplaces situated at the gable end of Block 4 match those on the opposing gable of the next house, Block 3, and provide evidence of the contemporaneity of the two structures. Of equal importance was the recovery of a timber and brick 'cob wall' sitting upon a rough masonry wall, at the east end of Block 4. This formed the partition between the first floor of Block 4 and the shared entrance-way to the rear of the two houses. The partition does not appear to have been originally in the second floor, suggesting that the houses were linked together at this level. It was one of the few examples recovered of a style of wall construction associated with the 17th century, consisting of a mortise and tenon framework of oak supporting an internal partition of regularly set bricks.

A mixed development was proposed for the entire site, embracing the medieval and post-medieval remains within a complex of offices, apartments (with underground car park), a public house and a craft centre. Prior to development, the site was registered under the National Monuments Act in July 1993. Consequently a strategy to deal with the archaeological and architectural remains was agreed between the developers and the OPW, whereupon the bulk of the upstanding remains was to be retained, and in some cases restored under archaeological supervision.

The area to the rear of the houses (Block 5) was entirely cleared, however, involving the demolition of several walls and the remains of the gable end of a post-medieval house. All the walls and gable feature were recorded on a large plan drawn to a scale of 1:50, in addition to being photographed using measuring targets. Most of the rear walls were of uncertain vintage and many included fragments of re-used stonework. It has been possible to trace the existence of earlier structures in this area but the remarkable feature of the large excavation of Block 5 that took place in July/August 1993 was the general absence of substantial stone structures with the extended foundations reaching bedrock typical of most of the upstanding houses.

The bulk of the deposits recovered to the rear of Block 3–4 comprised of heavy bands of humic soils resting upon sterile silty clays. Much of the deposits post-dated, or were roughly contemporaneous with, the construction of the Kirwan's Lane houses, suggesting that the soils were the foundation of a large garden shared by Blocks 3 and 4. Earlier, pre-garden deposits were recovered in the extreme north-western corner of the site, adjacent to the old banks of the Corrib and the city wall, and composed of a heavy cess material between the natural granite boulders, overlain in turn by a band of organic clay with wattle fencing. This stratigraphical sequence obviously predates the construction of the houses.

An additional cutting was opened up on the site of Block 1 prior to the construction of an underground basement. The deposits were mostly of rubble associated with the conversion of what had been a post-medieval house to a bakery. The foundations of the facade of the post-medieval house facing Cross St. were recovered, cut into natural sand and gravel. The remains of the back wall, of cut stone, were recovered also. A stone doorway belonging to the house has been left in situ and is being integrated to the modern facade. The removal of one of the side walls exposed another post-medieval fireplace, comprising of a heavy oak beam resting upon corbels. The beam is relieved by an archway spanning the width of the fireplace. This style of fireplace has also been recovered in Blocks 2 and 4. Further monitoring of ground disturbance of Block 1 revealed a side wall associated with the demolished gable.

In December 1993 and January 1994 investigations were held within Blocks 2-4. A long oak baseplate, set within a cobbled floor, was exposed below the modern floor level. The oak beam bisected the house and a series of perforations indicate that it supported upright columns probably for the purpose of forming a partition. This is almost certainly an original feature of the house. Below this, a large pit backfilled with ash/cinder deposits was cut through a homogeneous silty clay similar to those found elsewhere on the site. The recovery of original features associated with the houses was less successful in Blocks 3-4. The floor of Block 4 had been obliterated by a later cobbled floor, probably dating to this century. An intriguing 'through way' was recovered linking the main front archway with a two-storey mill drop to the rear. The 'through way' was formed of a mortared stone wall, the remains of which were recovered in the front archway. Significantly, there were no foundations under the back wall of the house under the mill drop.

Most of the house remains had been obliterated within Block 3, although several mortared walls were exposed. Several trenches were cut and yielded primarily the ubiquitous silty clays with molluscs. The clays sit upon the natural granite, the top of which forms an uneven surface characterised by large boulders.

The pottery assemblage, derived almost entirely from the excavation to the rear of Blocks 3–4 has yet to be fully examined but it would appear that it consisted mainly of late medieval wares. Most of the pottery was recovered in small sherds suggesting that the pottery and the soils in which it was recovered, had originally been deposited elsewhere before resting in Kirwan's Lane. The bone assemblage comprised a varied range of butchered remains while large quantities of oyster shells were a feature of the silty clays. The most outstanding find was the discovery of a 13th-century stirrup-shaped gold ring with a sapphire set into it, in the extreme north-west corner of Block 5.

The remains of the timber in Block 4 were examined briefly by Mr. Aidan O'Sullivan. The earliest timberwork appears to be the heavy oak beams, some of which are chamfered, containing a series of notches, indicating the use of cogged joisting prevalent in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Several baseplates, resting upon corbels flanking window opes, have been recovered in Blocks 2 and 4. They were finely chamfered, in the style associated with the dressed stone work of the doorways and window frames, and it is possible that they belong to the late 16th or early 17th century when the houses were constructed.

At present, the houses are undergoing refurbishment. It is not intended to fully 'restore' the structures, but merely to put them to modern use. The policy adopted in relation to the features therefore has been the principle of 'reversibility' whereby all outstanding features have been retained subject to safety and practicability, sometimes at the expense of visibility. The most notable casualties of the policy are the two very fine decorated stone fireplaces at the gable end of Block 3 that have now been covered over by a block wall. The policy has ensured the preservation and the visibility, however, of most of the other remains.

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