County: Offaly Site name: DAINGEAN: Main Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 18:6 Licence number: 99E0677 ext.
Author: Dominic Delany
Site type: Town
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 647140m, N 727389m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.294704, -7.292886
Test excavation was carried out on 13 June 2000 at the site of a proposed extension to a licensed premises. The site lies at the north end of the archaeological zone around the historic town of Daingean. The tested area (c. 25m2) had a gravel surface and was used as a storage yard.
Four trenches were excavated on the footprint of the proposed extension and its associated services. The gravel surface covered a rubble fill (0.6m thick), which overlay a 2m-thick bog deposit. The bog consisted of a mid- to dark brown/black silt with frequent inclusions of organic matter (branches, twigs, leaves, bark fragments etc.) and occasional animal bone fragments. It was extremely soft, and the overlying rubble was obviously imported onto the site to stabilise the ground. The natural boulder clay was encountered at 2.5m below the existing ground level.
A disused circular stone-lined well (0.9m in diameter, c. 1m deep) was discovered at the rear of the existing building. The well was partially covered with wooden planks and was filled with foul water. It was faced internally with roughly hewn limestone blocks and revetted externally by a rubble fill of unmortared cobbles and red brick. The well is undoubtedly a relatively modern feature. No archaeological material was discovered during testing.
31 Ashbrook, Oranmore, Co. Galway
