County: Galway Site name: CLAREGALWAY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 70:36 Licence number: 02E1574
Author: Anne Carey
Site type: Castle - tower house
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 537276m, N 733304m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.346243, -8.941993
Trial-trenching was carried out on the site of a proposed development at Claregalway Castle, Claregalway, Co. Galway, on 17 and 18 October 2002, within the constraint zone of the castle. The area under redevelopment comprises a number of existing outbuildings that border a courtyard, the southern element of which is the castle itself. Structural remains were discovered in two of the five trenches excavated.
A wall/foundation discovered in Trench 1 was oriented north-east/south-west and appeared to be related to the existing range of buildings running north-eastward from the castle. The first-edition OS 6-inch map of 1838 shows the outbuildings extending beyond their modern limits, and the wall/foundation is in line with the existing buildings.
A more substantial wall was found in Trench 6. It was oriented east–west and was faced on both sides. It was 2.8m wide and occurred at a minimum of 0.2m and a maximum of 0.4m below current ground level. It was heavily mortared with a lime mortar, especially in the core. It comprised unhewn limestones of medium size, with smaller, angular packing stones. There was no evidence of an existing bawn wall on the site, and it cannot be said with certainty without further investigation that the remains from Trench 6 challenge this. Monitoring of groundworks associated with services is to be undertaken in the near future.
80 Portacarron, Ballymoneen Road, Galway
