County: Offaly Site name: BANAGHER
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0250
Author: Stuart Elder, Eachtra Archaeological Projects
Site type: Town
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 600950m, N 715530m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.190228, -7.985776
The site was in the centre of Banagher, to the east of Main Street, facing south onto Harbour Street. The development consisted of a cinema built in the 1950s that was in use for furniture storage and was to be redeveloped into a two-storey, seven-apartment block. The plans were changed during construction: the building was demolished, and a new building was constructed on the original footprint. Dúchas requested that a photographic survey be carried out, after being notified that the building had been a cinema.
Monitoring was carried out on five service and wall-foundation trenches. The trenches had an average depth of 0.35m and a maximum depth of 1.4m. The main stratum of interest was a layer of garden soil found in all of the trenches. This was the remains of human activity from the 19th century at the rear of properties fronting onto Harbour Street and Main Street.
9 Riveroaks, Riverstown, Birr, Co. Offaly
