County: Galway Site name: TUAM: Abbey Trinity Road
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 29:199 Licence number: 00E0323
Author: Dominic Delany
Site type: Town
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 543236m, N 752083m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.515659, -8.855882
Test excavation was carried out at the site of a proposed new service station on 22 and 23 July 2000. The site is at the western edge of the zone of archaeological potential in Tuam and lies in close proximity to St Mary’s Cathedral (SMR 29:179) and the site of the Premonstratensian Abbey of the Holy Trinity (SMR 29:178). The modern cathedral was built in 1861–63 and incorporates two earlier structures, the chancel of the late 12th-century Romanesque cathedral and the choir or ‘Synod Hall’ of the 14th-century Gothic cathedral. The abbey was founded c. 1203–4 by William de Burgho but was burned in the destruction of Tuam in 1244. The abbey ruins were removed in the late 18th century, and the site was cleared to make way for housing in the 1970s. A commemorative roadside plaque marks the site.
The development site is triangular in plan with maximum dimensions of 70m north–south x 50m. It is bounded by the grounds of St Mary’s Cathedral to the east, the Galway road to the west, and the railway line to the south. A disused building and service station forecourt were demolished prior to testing. Several large oil tanks were excavated from the forecourt during testing. Three trenches, 45m long, were opened. The features uncovered comprised two field drains, four machine-cut drainage trenches and several mass concrete wall foundations. The presence of old field drains and large drainage trenches is not surprising given that this area was liable to flooding prior to the widening of the River Corrib in the second half of the 20th century. The field drains, 0.85m wide and 0.2m deep, were filled with a grey/brown clay with inclusions of small stones and charcoal flecks. The drainage trenches, 1–3m wide, contained large quantities of organic debris (twigs, leaves, wood fragments), consistent with floodwater deposition. The mass concrete wall foundations relate to the building, which was demolished prior to testing. No archaeological material was discovered.
31 Ashbrook, Oranmore, Co. Galway
