1998:230 - ATHENRY HOUSE, Athenry, Galway

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Galway Site name: ATHENRY HOUSE, Athenry

Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 94:1 Licence number: 98E0432

Author: Dominic Delany

Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous

Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)

ITM: E 549998m, N 728490m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.304338, -8.750189

Test-excavation was undertaken in advance of planning, from 28 September to 8 October 1998. The site lies immediately south of the modern town and comprises c. 8.5 acres of unenclosed pastureland. The ruins of the imposing early 19th-century Athenry House and its associated coach-house and outbuildings lie towards the north-west end of the site. The site is within the bounds of the Anglo-Norman town, which was founded by Meiler de Bermingham in around 1235. A 75m stretch of the medieval town wall forms the south boundary of the site, and the site of the Spitle Gate, a postern into the medieval town, lies in the southern corner of the site. It has been suggested that the gate probably gets its name from a hospital that must have stood in this area, away from the inhabited part of the town. There is no evidence to suggest that this part of the town was settled in the medieval period.

Ten test-trenches were excavated at locations corresponding to the footprint of the proposed development. The trenches were 1m wide and varied from 40m to 100m long. The main features of archaeological significance were linear cuts in Trenches 1 and 3 and a curvilinear cut in Trench 3. The linear cuts appear to be associated and probably form part of a continuous feature. This feature is orientated north-east/south-west and averages 0.75m wide. The upper fill consists of a grey, silty clay containing pebbles, cobbles, boulders and flecks of charcoal. In Trench 1 this deposit overlies an organic, mid-brown, silty clay with inclusions of cobbles, oyster shell, animal and bird bone, flecks of charcoal, burnt wood fragments and occasional boulders. A similar deposit of dark brown/black, organic material was encountered nearby and appears to be associated with the linear cut. This deposit yielded a fine rim/spout sherd of Saintonge pottery, suggesting a medieval date for this feature.

The curvilinear cut in Trench 3 is 0.9m wide, and the upper fill comprises a dark grey, sandy clay with frequent inclusions of pebbles, cobbles, shell, bone and flecks of charcoal. No finds were recovered from the fill, but it appears to represent a feature of archaeological interest, possibly an enclosure ditch. In addition to these features several areas of archaeological potential were identified during testing, and some of the trenches yielded unstratified sherds of medieval and post-medieval pottery wares.

31 Ashbrook, Oranmore, Co. Galway