2000:0382 - GALWAY: Bóthar Irwin/Eyre Street, Galway

This work was carried out on 31 January and 1 February 2000 and involved the test excavation of the site in advance of its development owing to its location within the zone of archaeological potential for Galway City.

Two trial-trenches were excavated by machine. Trench A was located parallel to the south-east site boundary at 4.5m from it and measured 18.5m x 0.8–1.2m and 0.3–1.5m in depth. The stratigraphy consisted of rubble, 0.2–0.5m thick, within which were located two types of cobblestones and a number of modern services. The first group of cobbles were small and rounded, 0.1m thick. The second type were larger, square ‘sets’, 0.15m thick. Below the rubble was a wall foundation, an organic deposit, backfill and boulder clay. The wall foundation was rubble-built and of two courses. The organic deposit, also located below the wall foundation, was 0.3–0.7m thick and contained moderate amounts of oyster shell, animal bone and occasional redbrick fragments. The backfill contained frequent oyster shell, moderate animal bone and occasional redbrick fragments. It was up to 0.8m thick. Below the backfill was a 9-inch ceramic sewage pipe. Trench A joined Trench B at 4.5m from the south-east end of Trench B.

Trench B was located along the north-east site boundary at 0.5m from it and measured 14.5m x 1.1–2.1m and 1.1–1.6m in depth. The stratigraphy consisted of rubble, located on the surface, 0.2–3m thick, within which was a layer of cobblestones, 0.1m thick. Below the rubble were three wall foundations, backfill and an organic deposit. The wall foundations were of the same construction and were tied into each other, located within 0.1m of the surface. The backfill contained modern pottery, red and yellow brick fragments and occasional oyster shell, mussels and animal bone. It was up to 1.6m thick. The organic deposit was up to 0.7m thick. Below the three wall foundations, the backfill and the organic deposit was grey boulder clay.

All the evidence from the test excavation was of activity associated with a building just demolished on the site that dated to the 19th century. The four wall foundations uncovered were part of the building. The cobblestones found in Trench A were the remains of the once-cobbled yard at the front of the building, while the cobblestones found in Trench B may have represented an older cobbled floor. The site was obviously backfilled before the construction of the building. The organic deposits represented the site before the construction of the building just demolished. The redbrick fragments found within these deposits may mean that it had been disturbed in the past but probably date it to the 18th/19th century.

Purcell House, Oranmore, Co. Galway