County: Sligo Site name: SLIGO ENVIRONS WATER SUPPLY SCHEME
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0533
Author: Anne-Marie Lennon
Site type: Town defences
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 568993m, N 836528m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.276610, -8.476089
Work has been continuing on this project since November 1998 (Excavations 1998, 186). After the completion of the Rosses Point section of the pipeline in April 1999, work was switched to Sligo town. Here c. 26km of pipe was laid, using three methods of pipe insertion: directional drilling, open cut and pipe bursting. Over 18km of pipe was inserted using the directional drilling method. As this was the first large-scale use of this method in Ireland, extensive archaeological testing was undertaken beforehand in both the zone of archaeological potential in Sligo town and the peripheral suburban area.
Very few archaeological strata were uncovered during testing or pipe-laying. Testing on the street in front of Sligo Abbey revealed the possibility of undisturbed burials at 1.4m. It was decided to excavate the line of this trench before pipe-laying. The trench was taken to a depth of 1m; large quantities of disarticulated human bone were uncovered between 0.6m and 1m. This bone had been disturbed in the 19th century by the construction of a large culvert that ran the length of the street.
The route of the pipeline crossed the 17th-century town fortifications in at least ten positions. No evidence for the fortifications was uncovered in archaeological testing or pipe-laying. Work is due for completion in early February 2000.
9 Buenos Aires Court, Strandhill, Co. Sligo
