2002:0736 - GALWAY: Merlin Park, Galway

Nineteen test-trenches were excavated across three fields to the north of Merlin Park tower-house before the construction of a Galway Corporation housing development. The stratigraphy across the site was relatively uniform throughout. A thin sod layer overlay an orange/brown silty clay that in turn overlay a creamy white, sandy boulder clay with protruding boulders and bedrock. The depth of topsoil varied across the site, and the level of the protruding boulders and bedrock also rose and fell. The topsoil was relatively free of inclusions, and few finds were noted across the site, apart from modern crockery, ceramic tiles, occasional pottery sherds, fragments of dark and clear glass, shell and fragments of disarticulated animal bone.

A number of features were noted in some of the trenches. Substantial, linear, loose-stone dumps were noted in Trenches 10 and 13–15. They appeared just below the sod layer, were cut into the topsoil and boulder clay and seemed to be too large to represent drainage features, but this remains a possibility. Two small shell middens were noted in Trenches 7 and 14. A rough stone surface was revealed in the southern end of Trench 6. A number of worked cobbles were noted in the topsoil; however, the excavated surface was composed of rough, rounded stones. A small pit, revealed in section farther to the south, was cut into the topsoil and boulder clay and contained a layer of charcoal-rich silt and an ash-like deposit. In Trench 5 two features were noted: a thin band of charcoal and a rectangular trench cut into the boulder clay. However, none of the features revealed could be described as highly significant, and it is unlikely that any substantial features related to the tower-house will be disturbed during construction. It is believed, however, that construction work across the development site may reveal larger shell middens and other features. It is therefore considered necessary to monitor the topsoil-stripping across the entire site.