1998:653 - MULLINGAR: Church Avenue/Pearse Street, Westmeath

Archaeological work took place in Mullingar at two elongated sites running back from Pearse Street, formerly Main Street, and originally the main spinal road of the town. One (Site A) was a former supermarket that, before demolition, had a 19th-century facade and fabric and stood on the corner with Church Avenue. The second part of the site (Site B) had a 19th-century shop-cum-dwelling-house and early to mid-19th-century features. It also had some fine early 19th-century panelling and wainscoting.

Eight areas were excavated in Site A, and a further nine in Site B. Excavation was initially carried out using a mechanical digger, and then areas were hand-dug and cleaned. The main archaeological features found were a series of pits and a spread of dark, organic soils that was generally found between 19th-century and modern builders' rubble and natural undisturbed deposits. The pits and spread contained 17th-century clay pipes, post-medieval bottles and ceramics, along with organic deposits containing large quantities of wood (branches, cut and shaped pieces, some sawn-off cuts and a deposit of twigs and reeds). In 1826 the OS 1:2500 map shows a saw-pit on the opposite site of the road in Church Avenue. The organic deposits excavated are clearly earlier than this, but one wonders if there was a saw-pit there previously, in the 17th century. Generally, however, saw-pits did not come into use until the 18th century in most places.

The ceramics included portion of a Westerwald chamber-pot, post-medieval smoothware, Buckley-type ware and plain, white, tin-glazed wares. These were found along with heavy, bulbous, thick-based glass bottles.

The most likely interpretation of the organic deposits in waterlogged contexts is that they represent domestic deposits made during the occupation of the site. That some of the deposits include a large amount of hazel and birch may suggest a link with some industrial activities. There were several tan-houses indicated in the Groove's survey of 1641.

By 1691 a rampart, as shown on the Richard's Map of the Williamite fortifications, seems to have been built diagonally across the site, and some of the bottles and pottery found may be as late as this period, although others are clearly some decades earlier.

Some time after the site was cleared of the fortifications the plots of lands involved seem to have been restored to their elongated 'burage plot-type' lengths.

Subsequent to the main monitoring work a cutting was made in Pearse Street for service trenches. No archaeological material survived in the trench.