County: Clare Site name: ENNIS: Cornmarket Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0085
Author: Richard Crumlish, Archaeological Services Unit Ltd.
Site type: Water mill - vertical-wheeled
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 533402m, N 677531m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.844596, -8.988600
Monitoring of the excavation of foundation trenches and a service trench was carried out between 26 and 28 February 1997 in compliance with a condition of planning for the development, which consisted of the conversion of an existing mill (John Morris Russell's Cornstore and Kilns) into apartments and the construction of a new block adjacent to the mill. The existing mill consisted of two buildings, Buildings 1 and 3, while the new block was Building 2.
The site is situated in the town of Ennis, with the River Fergus flowing along the east boundary and Cornmarket Street running along the west boundary. Built c. 1807, Building 3 was used for storage and drying of grain/corn. In more recent times it functioned as an electrical store and most recently as an office supplies outlet.
The excavation of twelve foundation trenches, a ground-beam trench and a section of a service trench took place in and adjacent to Building 3. The stratigraphy encountered in the trenches did not differ greatly from one to another. It consisted of a rubble fill, three sterile deposits (of probable riverine origin), the foundation of an existing mill and a stone drain, probably contemporaneous with the existing mill.
No deposits of archaeological significance were in evidence. The only artefacts recovered were red brick and a small number of pottery sherds of modern date from the rubble fill which covered the surface of the site.
Purcell House, Oranmore, Co. Galway
