1997:204 - GALWAY: Prospect Hill, Galway

Monitoring of the demolition of the existing County Buildings and of the ground disturbance involved in the construction of the proposed new buildings was carried out between 25 August and 6 November 1997. Even though the original building was constructed at the turn of the last century and opened in 1802, a reference to a 16th-century leper hospital in the general area necessitated monitoring of all ground disturbance associated with the development.

The site was located near the highest point of Prospect Hill in Galway City. To the west and north-west the River Corrib is visible, flowing in a north-south direction.

The demolition phase of the project included the reduction of the existing ground level, where the existing buildings stood, by c. 1m. The stratigraphy encountered consisted of topsoil, cobblestones in places, modern rubble fill, building materials and service pipes associated with the demolished buildings, the foundations of the demolished buildings and, in certain places, white/grey sterile boulder clay. A number of stone culverts were also uncovered.

A total of 68 trenches excavated for foundation pads for the new building were monitored. The stratigraphy in all the trenches was the same: modern rubble fill of varying depths, below which lay white/grey sterile boulder clay. A cesspool, marked on the drawing of the original building, then known as Galway County Infirmary, was located in one of these trenches, below the fill and above the boulder clay. The remains of a well were discovered within another.

Nothing of archaeological significance was found during the monitoring programme of demolition works. All structures, deposits and fills uncovered were associated with the existing County Buildings, built at the turn of the 19th century.

Purcell House, Oranmore, Co. Galway