1999:470 - CARRICK-ON-SHANNON: Main Street, Leitrim

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Leitrim Site name: CARRICK-ON-SHANNON: Main Street

Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 31:5 Licence number: 99E0521

Author: Mary Henry

Site type: Town

Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)

ITM: E 593836m, N 799670m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.946319, -8.093887

The site is at the east end of the Main Street in Carrick-on-Shannon. Before construction works for a two-storey building it was necessary, in accordance with planning permission, to undertake testing of the site.

Three test-trenches were opened. One had to be abandoned following the exposure of an unmarked, high-voltage, live ESB cable at 0.3m below ground level. The other two trenches were opened to natural deposit levels, which occurred between 0.7m and 0.8m below ground level.

Little was revealed of archaeological significance. In one of the trenches the natural soil consisted of peat, 0.75m below ground level. This was not surprising as much of Carrick-on-Shannon and its environs is dominated by peat. The strata in the two trenches consisted of disturbed topsoil between the tarmacadam surface and associated build-up and the subsoils. It consisted of disturbed and loose garden soil with inclusions of red brick, flecks of charcoal, mortar and frequent stones.

There were no traces of any archaeological remains that could be associated with the 17th-century Plantation town.

24 Queen Street, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary