County: Westmeath Site name: ATHLONE: Bastion Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Paul Stevens for Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 603721m, N 741341m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.422174, -7.944016
Archaeological monitoring took place in October 1998 at a housing redevelopment at No. 16 Bastion Street, Athlone. The site lies on the northern side of Bastion Street, south of the 17th-century bastion wall, which runs parallel to the street and at right angles to the medieval town wall. The development area measures 19m north-south by 8m.
Development was in progress when archaeological monitoring was requested; no demolition or alteration to existing walls was planned; however, subsurface works were undertaken close to the wall, and these were all subject to an archaeological monitoring clause. In fact, only one trench was available to archaeologically monitor; however, all standing walls were visible.
The trench was opened for a foul water main supply and lay in the centre of the building on the site. The trench was 6m long, 1m wide and 0.4–1m deep and revealed two linear features of 17th/18th-century date below the existing property. These were revealed at a depth of 0.3–0.4m below ground level.
The line of the bastion wall appeared to be substantially altered and contained several phases of masonry and brick. No intact portion of the original bastion wall was noted during the assessment. Analysis of the other face of the wall revealed that the bastion wall had been rebuilt from a point east of the property, where it was listing and buttressed. It is therefore likely that the wall fell and was rebuilt using existing stone and brick additions.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
