2001:1284 - MULLINGAR: Connaught Lane, Westmeath

The proposed project involves the development of a carpark at Connaught Lane in Mullingar town. It was recommended that pre-development testing be undertaken because the site lies within the zone of archaeological potential. The work requires the excavation of a depth of c. 0.45–0.6m to allow for the installation of a new surface and lighting. In addition, it was recommended that all ground disturbance be monitored.

Five trenches were mechanically excavated in the course of testing. The stratigraphy revealed did not indicate any evidence of features/deposits of archaeological significance. The layers present consisted of topsoil, subsoil and a natural gravel layer or boulder clay. It was noted that the natural layers were found at a greater depth in the north of the site than in the south. Finds from the trenches included occasional modern glass, 19th/20th-century pottery fragments and occasional clay pipe fragments. The stratigraphy encountered in Trench A was similar to that in Trenches B–E, except that it appears that the natural was cut into in this trench, resulting in a cut feature 4m in width. The cut was filled with loose stones and a reddish/ brown clay, which overlay a thin, light grey sticky clay (C7). Occasional charcoal fragments were uncovered below C7, but no finds or features of archaeological significance were uncovered in the cut feature.

The monitoring of ground disturbance involved the removal of topsoil for a depth of c. 0.4–0.55m, except in the north-east, where topsoil was 0.74m in depth. In all areas the removal of topsoil revealed a light brown-orange stony subsoil. Occasional 20th-century pottery and glass fragments were recovered from this layer, but no artefacts or deposits of archaeological significance were encountered.

Ballydavid South, Athenry, Co. Galway