2000:0906 - WASTE GARDENS, Sligo, Sligo

A pre-development test excavation was carried out in advance of a planning application for future development within the block known as Waste Gardens in Sligo town. The block of Waste Gardens is 100–200m south of the Garavogue River, just where the river bends to the north before the rapids, after which it reaches Sligo Bay. The block covers the full north-facing slope, as well as the summit of the ridge overlooking the Garavogue River.

Because of its strategic location overlooking the river, it is likely that the ridge had attracted many different activities during prehistory. It would have constituted an area suitable for settlement during both the Mesolithic and the Neolithic, which might be indicated by the very large amounts of shells reported as found in the town when houses were constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries. It must, however, be stressed that no Mesolithic or Neolithic artefacts have been reported from Sligo town, even though several excavations have been carried out here in recent years.

At the same ridge as Waste Gardens but c. 500m to the east is the Neolithic boulder circle monument at Abbeyquarter North. This monument is identical to the monuments at the Carrowmore passage tomb complex and should be seen in that context. An additional monument known as the ‘Sligo Stones’, which possibly was a megalithic monument, was located on the same ridge, c. 100m to the west of Waste Gardens. This monument was destroyed in the late 1800s.

The aim of the test excavation was to assess the possibilities of recording archaeological remains within the block known as Waste Gardens. Three trenches, each 2m x 1m, were opened. The trenches were very rich in modern finds such as crockery, clay pipes, different glazed ware and bones (mainly butchered). Among these some worked chert, flint and cremated bones occurred.

The test excavation revealed that deposits of a depth of up to c. 1.8m were present above the original ground level. However, the stratigraphical evidence showed that modern material is well represented down to a depth of c. 1.4m below ground, indicating that a substantial amount of soil and debris of different character had been brought in and dumped in this area during the last c. 200 years. No intact archaeological remains are therefore to be expected, at least within the uppermost c. 1.4m.

The only prehistoric finds made consisted of a concave scraper and seven worked pieces of chert found at c. 1.4–1.8m below present ground level in Trenches 1 and 2. As some modern material consisting of clay pipes and crockery was also found in this layer, the chert finds do not come from an intact Neolithic layer. The fact that all but one of the Neolithic artefacts recorded were found in the lowest layer close to the original ground level makes it likely, however, that Neolithic activity had been present in the locality.

The results from this very limited excavation are a small but highly important contribution to the interpretation of the Neolithic landscape in Sligo, as up until now no evidence of this character has ever been recorded in Sligo town, despite the fact that several archaeological excavations have taken place here during the last number of years.

As mentioned above, the ridge overlooking the Garavogue River would have constituted a good location for habitation during the Neolithic, and the finds or worked chert in Waste Gardens might be the remains of such activity. The existence of the nearby Neolithic boulder circle at Abbeyquarter, as well as the possibility that the once-existing ‘Sligo Stones’, c. 100m to the west, were a megalithic monument, strengthens the case for Neolithic activity. Hopefully future excavations in Sligo town will shed more light on the Neolithic associations of this highly strategic area.

Rockville, Culleenamore, Co. Sligo