2001:502 - GALWAY: 16, 20, 24, 26, 28 and 32 Abbeygate Street Upper, Galway

Prior to the construction of an extension to the Central Park nightclub, excavation revealed a series of features across the site. The site had been tested previously by Dominic Delaney (Excavations 1998, No. 239, 98E0154) and Anne Carey (see Excavations 2001, No. 501).

Excavations took place to the rear of Nos 16, 20, 24, 26, 28 and 32 Upper Abbeygate Street. The main excavation took place to the rear of Nos 28 and 32. Previously Jim Higgins had undertaken excavations to the rear of No. 28, which contains a fireplace with an armorial plaque bearing the date 1684 (Excavations 1995, No. 119, 95E0220). This excavation produced mainly 17th-century pottery. An excavation at No. 26 by Richard Crumlish produced nothing of archaeological significance (Excavations 1998, No. 240, 98E0287).

Standing remains within the boundaries of the site included a side wall and the footprint of Building A, a 17th-century townhouse appended onto the gable of an earlier building (Building B). Excavation revealed the foundations of the gable end of third building (Building C), mentioned in the architectural inventory for Galway as the medieval gable wall to the left of No. 16 Abbeygate Street Upper (registration no. 30005498).

The 2001 excavations identified a 0.8m-deep, 1.4m-wide, U-shaped ditch or gully (F151) running at an oblique angle to modern Abbeygate Street Upper and its related property boundaries. This produced some sherds of Saintonge ware and a fragment of a bone comb and was tentatively dated to the period before the construction of the Franciscan friary in 1296 (assuming that Abbeygate Street Upper itself is aligned on the friary, or vice versa). A large pit cutting this feature produced no diagnostic finds.

A later gully of similar dimensions to F151 was identified as running parallel to the boundary of the properties that front onto Abbeygate Street Upper. A second, larger ditch (F104), measuring 3.2–3.4m in width and 1.5m in depth, was identified as being parallel to Abbeygate Street Upper itself. Both these features produced more imported French pottery (pottery identifications courtesy of Claire McCutcheon). Sherds of Redcliffe, Ham Green B, Flemish decorated ware and unglazed and green-painted Saintonge were recovered from post-medieval features cut through the fills of F104, and are likely to reflect the original date of the fills of this ditch.

Garden soils then developed over the site until the 16th or 17th century, when a number of pits were opened on the site. While the stratigraphic sequence on the site is known, the exact date of the individual features is still uncertain. The pits and some of the subsequent features produced sherds of Saintonge polychrome, Seville coarseware, Frechen, Westerwald, North Italian marble ware and North Devon wares.

The remains of a large 17th-century kiln were identified on the site. A 7.5m-long by 3m-wide stoke pit and storage area of the kiln survived as brick and mortar footings. Only the entry to the flue/ash-pit survived of the kiln base. Some possible pantile wasters were identified on the site and it may be that the kiln was for their manufacture. While No. 28 Abbeygate Street Upper, with the armorial plaque dating from 1684, fronts the property containing this kiln, the date of the plaque is too late for this kiln, so it must relate to one of the building phases associated with Building A or B as described above.

The kiln was then destroyed and backfilled, with a number of masonry fragments present within the fill. A well was then constructed to the rear of the kiln, with the construction pit for the well removing part of its northern end. Early to mid-17th-century finds were recovered from behind the stone lining of the well, including a large quantity of pantiles. A possible cannonball fragment was also recovered from this context, making it tempting to suggest that the well may date from after 1642, when the town was fired on at least twice (the second time from the walls just to the north of Abbeygate Street Upper), or from the time of siege in 1651–2. Given the increase in population inside the walls between 1642 and the siege, a date between 1642 and 1652 is not unreasonable. The backfill of the well contained some 18th-century pottery and the remains of the bucket.

A small amount of excavation took place in the yard to the rear of Nos 16, 20 and 24 Abbeygate Street Upper. The modern fills in the yard were removed to reveal the footings of the gable of a building designated as Building C (as described above). Other than the side wall visible alongside No. 16, the construction of the current standing building had removed all but this part of the building. The exposed portion contained sparrow-pecked stones, one with a plain border, suggesting a 16th- or early 17th-century date (Jim Higgins, pers. comm.) for the use of the building. A doorway was present in this gable, indicating access to the rear of the structure. An area of fire clay or mortar suggested that an oven was present in this back garden, but this feature was left unexcavated. Some sherds of Isabella polychrome and other 16th/17th-century pottery were recovered from the area to the rear of Building C.

Some further investigations will be undertaken on the site in 2002, including monitoring of construction works.

2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin