1997:583 - ATHLONE: Pearse Street, Westmeath

The site lies within a triangular block defined by Pearse Street (north and west), Connelly Street (east) and Bastion Street/O’Connell Street (south). The assessment was undertaken on 11 March 1997 as the result of a planning requirement. Demolition of the pre-existing structures on site had taken place prior to the assessment.

First walled in 1251, the town had numerous lines of defences built and destroyed up to the 17th century. The town fortifications were greatly strengthened in 1651 after its capture by Cromwellian forces (eastern walls strengthened and bastions included, and an earthen-bastioned enceinte constructed on the west). However, they were unable to withstand the 1691 siege by Ginkel, when extensive damage was done to the castle and town. An important reference from the time (1682) describes how the western fortification works were set with a ‘quick hedge’, the only reference of planting to bind earthen ramparts to prevent slippage and collapse at an Irish site. By the 17th century the town comprised an ‘English town’ on the east bank and an ‘Irish town’ on the west. The Connacht-side settlement may have been very small during the 17th century, especially after the 1691 bombardment, described as the heaviest any Irish town received.

While nothing survives of the fortifications of the west town, its original layout has influenced (and can still be traced in) the present street pattern. There was a demi-bastion at the north-east end in the vicinity of the present main gate of Custume Barracks, from which the rampart continued west for around 90m before reaching an acute-angled bastion. From here the rampart turns 90 degrees south and continues to the junction of Barrack Street and Pearse Street, where a gate was located. A ravelin, located here to protect the entrance, may have contributed to the pronounced bend in the main street at this location (Pearse Street/Barrack Street). From here the rampart ran south for a distance of c. 80m to a large central bastion which provided the main western exit for the town. Bastion Street obviously derived its name from this feature and, along with Grattan Street, their juxtaposition and layout reflect the line of fortification (it is unusual that the exact lines of the central bastion should be so well preserved in the street pattern and this may be a reflection of properties being ‘wrapped’ around the defences or may indicate that the earthen rampart was guided by pre-existing properties). The rampart continues south from here, just outside Abbey Lane, to a small corner bastion near Goldsmith Terrace, where it turns east and runs to a demi-bastion forming a terminal at the Shannon, close to the modern lock. This terminal is most probably the exit known as Peter’s Port.

Of the cartographic sources, Thomas Phillips’s plan of 1685 provides a layout of the western town. The map locates the main thoroughfares and entrances of the west town at Bastion Street, Barrack Street and Excise Street. The layout of present-day Connolly Street, Abbey Lane and The Bawn have obviously been influenced by the trace of the 17th-century fortifications. The western approach roads are flanked with cabin dwellings (poorer inhabitants), including an area around the central bastion. Thomas Sherrard’s map of 1784 depicts the eastern town as walled, while the walls on the west have been removed.

Five trenches were mechanically excavated. Trench 1, located 22m south of the north-east corner of the site, was perpendicular to the wall at the rear of the property line fronting Bastion Street. It was orientated approx. south-east/north-west and measured 22m by 2m. The following profile and features were recorded: 0m–3m: dark brown soil with small stones and brick fragments (0–0.5m), and yellow clay containing small stones (0.5–1.5m+); 3–22m: compact dump of gravel and rubble deposits mixed with dark brown clay (banded) (0–1.1m), dark brown clay with charcoal flecks and small stones (1.1–1.5m), and yellow clay containing small stones (1.5m+). A south-west/north-east linear ditch, 13.2m wide, was located 5.3m north of the property wall boundary. The feature cuts the natural yellow clay subsoil and is characterised by a dark brown clay fill containing charcoal flecks and small stones. A possible division or berm composed of yellow clay, several metres in width, was located within the feature at a position 12m north of the property wall boundary. The feature appears to represent a parallel double line of fortification ditches.

Trench 2, positioned at a right angle to the wall forming the northern boundary of the site at the rear of properties fronting Connolly Street, lay c. 28m from the north-east corner of the site along a recessed portion of the wall. It measured 17.3m by 2m. The following profile and features were recorded: 0–6.5m: concrete and hard-core infill (0–0.2m), yellow clay mixed with numerous red brick fragments and small stones (0.2–0.45m), grey-brown clay (0.45–1m) (exposed to diesel/oil seepage), and dark brown/black clay containing small stones and charcoal flecks (1m+) (this represents a continuation of the counterscarp ditch); 6.5–17.3m: concrete and hard-core infill (0–0.2m), yellow clay mixed with red brick fragments and small stones (0.2–1m), and yellow clay (1m+).

Trench 3 was positioned at a right angle to the wall forming the northern boundary of the site at the rear of properties fronting Connolly Street. It is located c. 34m from the north-west corner of the development, orientated north-east/south-west, and measures 19m by 2m. The deposits revealed were dark brown/black soil containing brick rubble (0–0.4m), yellow clay mixed with red brick fragments and small stones (0.4–1m), grey-brown clay containing red brick fragments and small stones (1–1.2m), and yellow clay (1.2m+). Features uncovered included an east–west linear ditch positioned 4.5m south of the boundary wall cut into natural clay. The ditch is 2.8m wide and filled with dark brown/black clay and small stones. It probably represents a continuation of the counterscarp ditch. An east–west linear wall foundation was located 8.7m south of the boundary wall and 0.5m below present ground level. The wall is composed of rough-cut stone blocks and red brick, 1.1m wide and 0.8m+ high, representing a 19th/20th-century property division.

Trench 4 was positioned at the northern corner of the development site parallel with the Pearse Street frontage. It was orientated north–south, measuring 13m by 2m. It contained dark brown soil mixed with brick rubble (depth 0–0.2m), and yellow clay (depth 0.2–0.5m).

Trench 5 was positioned across the site entrance to the south on the Bastion Street/O’Connell Street confluence. It was located 16.3m north of the street, orientated north-east/south-west, and measured 4m by 2m. Owing to the nature of the deposits uncovered in this area, the sides of the trench were very unstable and so the measurements given below are approximate: dark brown soil/clay heavily mixed with domestic rubbish and brick rubble (0–1.5m), dark brown soil containing numerous stones (1.5–2.7m), and yellow clay (2.7m+) (darker and drier than that observed in other trenches).

The test excavation results clearly uncovered portions of the external ditch of the rampart in Trenches 1–3. The excavation did not reveal any evidence for remains of the earthen rampart forming either the central bastion or the ravelin believed to overlie Pearse Street. Monitoring of rubble and soil clearance over the remainder of the site did not reveal any features or soils of archaeological significance.

Rath House, Ferndale Road, Rathmichael, Co. Dublin