County: Westmeath Site name: ATHLONE: Northgate Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0210 ext.
Author: Martin E. Byrne
Site type: Town defences
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 603740m, N 741470m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.423333, -7.943729
Archaeological testing at the site of a proposed residential, hotel and leisure complex undertaken in April 1998 (Excavations 1998, 208–9) uncovered a section of the 17th-century town wall. However, the exact extent and line of the wall on the western area of the site could not be determined because of the presence of 20th-century factory buildings. These were demolished in mid-1999, and additional testing was undertaken in October.
This revealed that the foundation remains of the town wall had been truncated and entirely removed by construction of riverside industrial buildings in both the 19th and mid-20th centuries. No additional features or finds of archaeological interest were recovered during this phase of testing.
In addition an extant gasworks building was subjected to an industrial archaeological assessment and survey by Colin Rynne before its demolition.
31 Millford, Athgarvan, Co. Kildare
