County: Donegal Site name: DONEGAL: Quay Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0243 and ext.
Author: Alan Hayden, Archaeological Projects Ltd.
Site type: Quay
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 592953m, N 878495m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.654592, -8.109200
The site occupies an area measuring 35m east–west by 34m that lies on the west side of Quay Street and fronts onto the river estuary to the west. The first edition OS map shows that the late 18th/early 19th-century quay wall crosses the west side of the site but is now hidden behind more modern reclamation.
Three trenches were mechanically excavated in April 2000. Bedrock stepped down from 1.4m to 3.5m below modern ground level from east to west. It was overlain by water-deposited silt, which contained 18th-century finds. The top of this deposit lay at 2m below modern ground level. A large stone wall crossed the centre of the site parallel to the later 18th-century one. Its top stood to a maximum height of 1m below modern ground level.
The site and wall were subsequently fully exposed and recorded during archaeological excavation undertaken in early June 2000. It was the earliest structure on the site. The height of the bedrock at the east side of the site suggested that this was the first quay wall built in the area. The wall survived up to 2m in height and was built against one of the bedrock steps. Its rear face was poorly built, but the west face, which faced the water, was finely wrought of large blocks of stone. Eighteenth-century deposits occurred in places beneath the rear face and also against both sides of the wall. It is hoped that the wall will be rebuilt at a higher level in the proposed development.
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