County: Galway Site name: ST BRENDAN'S CHURCH, Loughrea
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0491
Author: Martin Fitzpatrick, Arch. Consultancy Ltd
Site type: Burial ground
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 562175m, N 716646m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.198914, -8.566093
Excavations at St Brendan's Church were carried out over three weeks in September 1999. In the town of Loughrea, St Brendan's Church is marked on the third edition of the Ordnance Survey map but not on the first edition. The building, which is currently being converted into the branch library for Galway County Council, is thought to occupy the site of a pre-Reformation church within the walls of Loughrea town. During construction work human bones were uncovered both inside and outside the church building. As a result of these finds and following consultations with Dúchas The Heritage Service, it was recommended that all remaining ground disturbance within the church be carried out by a licensed archaeologist.
Five separate areas within the church were excavated during this project. Two of the areas revealed 19th-century cobbled surfaces, but no artefacts of archaeological significance were uncovered in any area. The excavations concentrated in the interior of the building resulted in the recovery of moderate amounts of scattered human remains that had been previously disturbed. While the exact date of the disturbance cannot be defined, it is likely that the construction of the present church building at the beginning of the 19th century resulted in the displacement of buried human remains. While evidence for possible burials pre-dating the church building were uncovered, no features, artefacts or deposits of archaeological significance were encountered to suggest the existence of an earlier church building on the site.
In addition to the excavation work inside the church building, this project involved the cleaning and recording of the section faces of an east-west-running service trench on the north side of the building. Occasional human remains were also recovered from this area. After consultation with the National Museum of Ireland, the human remains recovered from the excavations were delivered to the local minister for reburial.
Ballydavid South, Athenry, Co. Galway
