County: Galway Site name: ATHENRY: D.H. Burkes, Northgate Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 84:1 Licence number: 98E0599
Author: Billy Quinn, for Archaeological Services Unit Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 549998m, N 728490m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.304338, -8.750189
This work was undertaken on 15 December 1998. The proposed development involves the construction of a number of commercial and residential blocks, with carparking facilities. The proposed site, currently being used as a carpark, lies within the medieval town of Athenry, to the west of North Gate Street opposite St Mary's Collegiate church, and is bordered on its north and north-west by the medieval town wall. The North Tower, in ruins, stands in the north-west corner of the site. Testing involved the mechanical excavation of three trenches.
Trench 1, 30m x 1m and 0.7m deep, was orientated west-north-west/east-south-east and was positioned to run through the centre of the site. In general, hard-core lay above the grey, sandy subsoil. At 3m from the eastern limit of the trench a dark brown, compact, silty material with frequent small stones was found. It contained fragments of red brick and glass sherds and lay above the subsoil.
Trench 2, 10m x 1m, had a similar stratigraphy to Trench 1.
Trench 3, 30m x 1m, contained the brown, compact layer seen in Trench 1, as well as, in the west of the trench, a friable, orange/brown clay layer, 4.5m long and 0.8m deep. It overlay natural.
Judging from the extant medieval features it is possible that the present ground surface has been considerably reduced in recent years. It appears on the evidence of the test-trenches that the proposed development poses no threat to the immediate archaeological environment.
1c The Market, Ennis, Co. Clare
