County: Donegal Site name: BALLYSHANNON: Castle Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 107:56 Licence number: 97E0035
Author: Christiaan Corlett for John Channing
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 587854m, N 861499m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.501783, -8.187513
An archaeological assessment in advance of a proposed development of holiday cottages was carried out in March 1997. The proposed site for development fell into the western sector of the SMR constraint of the alleged site of Ballyshannon Castle. The designated area of development is located on the eastern fringes of the garden plots of the houses fronting Castle Street.
The site consists of three linear terraced garden plots, aligned east-west. The terraces fall from north to south towards the River Erne, though the land also falls away gently towards the east. Two trenches were excavated mechanically across the northernmost and highest of the terraces designated for development. An east-west trench indicated that the west end of the site was raised by a modern build-up of garden soil directly above the natural subsoil. Two distinct layers of subsoil were identified above the bedrock. A north-south trench was excavated at the west end of Trench 1, and revealed several layers of post-medieval garden soil, directly above the subsoil.
Two further east-west trenches were opened across the southernmost and lowest terrace designated for development. The stratigraphy in both trenches revealed a topsoil above a shallow subsoil, in turn directly above bedrock. No archaeological features or finds were revealed.
17 Rowan House, Sussex Road, Dublin 4
