2002:0713 - BARNA, Galway

During groundworks associated with the construction of two apartment buildings at the rear of Barna House, an 18th-century protected structure, archaeological material was discovered. The site is east of Barna village on the shores of Galway Bay. Barna Castle (site of), SMR 93:2, is immediately to the south of Barna House, but its constraint circle did not include the area under redevelopment. As a result of recommendations, the remains were exposed and recorded from 24 to 27 September, and they have been preserved within the development.

They comprised two parts: an icehouse and a short section of stone walling of ambiguous function. The icehouse was revealed in the south-facing section of an area of high ground to the north of the western apartment block. The feature measured 4.42m north–south by 4.71m and was constructed of brick. It consisted of a number of related components, the most substantial of which was a thick mortar outer wall, up to 2.5m thick at the northern end and an average of 1m thick at the southern end. This mortar wall was largely constructed of a lime mortar, with unhewn, large to medium stones abundantly mixed throughout. The mortar wall sloped sharply from south to north; there were no facings evident on its extremities, but a neat, well-made brick facing defined the inner face. The icehouse contained a mixed fill consisting largely of redeposited fragments of the inner brick face of the upper parts of the icehouse itself. There were occasional deposits of field stones and loose, crumbly mortar.

At the base of the icehouse was an eclectic collection of discarded objects of a domestic nature that appeared to be largely late 19th to early 20th century. These included an enamel chamber pot in a poor state of preservation, several wine bottles, a handsome earthenware container of French origin and a comb. The French earthenware container bears the name of ‘Maille’, a famous vinegar manufacturer in Paris. The Maille family began producing vinegar in 1720 and moved to 50 Rue Violet, Paris, which is the address printed on the jar, in 1850.

The remains of a stone wall were revealed during the excavation for the eastern apartment building, and the feature lay 1.2m to the north of the foundations of that building. The wall was revealed at 0.4m below current ground level. It was just over 3m long (east–west) and survived to 0.5m high. It was constructed of large, unhewn, granite stones bonded with a heavy lime mortar, although many of the joints were largely empty. Smaller packing stones were used to fill in between the irregularly shaped, large granite stones. The wall was rather rough in appearance, but it seemed to have a slight batter.

The remaining groundworks on the site were monitored on 4–6 and 13 November 2002 and 4 February 2003, but no material of archaeological significance was discovered.