1998:644 - ATHLONE: Retreat Park, Westmeath

Test excavation was undertaken from 6 to 10 July 1998. The site of the proposed development lies c. 500m east of the medieval walled town on the east bank of the River Shannon and contains an enclosure. The enclosure is probably the 'pond' site referred to in The Sieges of Athlone 1690 and 1691 (H. Murtagh 1973, 3). Murtagh states that on 17 July 1690 the Williamite army arrived at Athlone and encamped about a quarter of a mile from the town. According to the footnotes, 'Strong local tradition says the encampment was in the townland of Retreat at a pond called the "Doctor's Pool". Here the troops washed their clothes, tended their wounds, and in the immediate area buried their dead. Local farmers have discovered skeletons when digging drains etc. It is possible the locality was similarly utilised at the second siege in 1691'. The pond is shown in open countryside in the estate grounds of Retreat House on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (1841). The area now forms part of the suburbs of the modern town.

The site comprises a subrectangular green-field area measuring c. 170m north-south by 85m. A shallow depression near the centre of the park was pinpointed as representing the site of the pond. Test excavation comprised the mechanical excavation of two trial-trenches in this area. A mid-brown, loose, silty clay topsoil (0.2m thick) overlay a compacted, redeposited, yellowish-brown, silty clay and grey, silty, sand subsoil (0.3m). The redeposited subsoil overlay natural stratified layers of orange, silty clay and grey silty sand subsoil. The topsoil and redeposited subsoil contained occasional modern pottery sherds and glass fragments. It appears that the pond was drained and backfilled when the surrounding lands were developed in recent times.

No archaeological deposits or features were encountered. A couple of post-medieval pottery sherds were recovered during subsequent monitoring of topsoil removal in advance of development.

31 Ashbrook, Oranmore, Co. Galway