2002:0734 - GALWAY: Lombard Street/Churchyard Street, Galway

Testing of a site at the Geraghty’s Menswear premises, on the corner of Lombard Street and Churchyard Street, Galway, before development was carried out from 22 to 25 January 2002. The site is within the zone of archaeological potential of Galway city, SMR 94:100. The testing was concerned with 60% of the area of the site, the existing floor slab being retained in the remaining 40% of the site at its northern end. Two trenches were excavated by machine.

Trench A, in the northern half of the site, was oriented east–west and was 7.3m long, 1.1–1.3m wide and 1.1–1.5m deep. Trench B was in the southern half of the site. It was oriented east–west and was 9m long, 0.7–1.1m wide and 0.9–1.6m deep.

The stratigraphy in Trench A was a concrete floor, 0.1–0.2m thick, below which was rubble fill, 1.0–1.4m thick, to the base of the trench. Within the rubble fill was a ceramic sewage pipe and concrete wall foundations at both ends of the trench.

The stratigraphy in Trench B was a concrete floor, 0.07–0.24m thick, below which was rubble fill, 0.2–0.6m thick. Within the rubble fill were two concrete wall foundations, a loose rubble wall foundation of an existing small chamber, a ceramic sewer pipe and a metal water pipe. Below the rubble fill was a firm, dark brown/black soil with occasional oyster shells, which was 0.1–0.8m thick. Below the dark brown/black deposit was light brown, friable, sandy silt with no inclusions, visible to the base of the trench.

The concrete floors, concrete wall foundations and services were contemporary with the extant building on the site, of 20th-century date. The remaining rubble foundation was of 18th-/19th-century date. The rubble fills yielded modern artefacts. Unfortunately no datable artefacts were recovered from the dark brown/black layer that contained oyster shell. This same layer is in evidence all over Galway and has been found to be disturbed, containing both modern and medieval artefacts. The light brown, friable, sandy silt was natural subsoil.

Although testing revealed evidence of modern activity only, monitoring of the groundworks was recommended because of the location of the site within the original city limits. This was carried out from 30 January to 21 February 2002. The groundworks consisted of a trench excavated for a prop for the roof and the excavation of six foundation pads.

The stratigraphy encountered was a concrete floor slab, 0.1–0.3m thick, below which was rubble fill, 0.4–1m thick. Below the rubble fill was a dark brown/black, friable soil with occasional shell that was 0.4m thick. Below the dark brown/black, friable soil was light brown, friable, sandy silt and a grey gravel deposit, visible to the base of the trench. Concrete wall foundations were visible in the rubble fill. No artefacts were recovered.

The entire subsurface area of the site, down to the natural deposits, appeared to have been disturbed by the insertion of foundations for modern concrete-block walls in the recent past. The monitoring produced evidence of modern (18th–20th-century) activity only.