2002:1672 - SLIGO: Markievicz Road/Holborn Street, Sligo

Testing to facilitate a development on the site was carried out on 17 October 2002. The development involved the construction of a public house and apartments. The site is within the zone of archaeological potential of Sligo town. Dúchas had recommended that a survey be carried out on the buildings that stood on the site, in a terrace facing onto Markievicz Road and the Garavogue River to the east and Holborn Street to the west. Unfortunately these recommendations were not listed in the planning conditions, and demolition of the buildings took place. Under the advice of Dúchas, the writer visited the site during demolition. The building being demolished was constructed of random rubble, small boulders and red brick, bonded with a lime mortar. There was no medieval fabric evident in the structure.

The site of the proposed development measured c. 30m east-north-east by 6–7m. Three test-trenches were excavated by machine, two of them to undisturbed natural. The stratigraphy was similar throughout the site. A layer of builder’s rubble overlay the entire site. Below this was a layer of blackish clay (0.6m deep), which overlay a dark brown, silty clay (0.5m deep) with frequent shell. Toward the western end of the site this overlay grey natural silt and bedrock. Toward the eastern end of the site a mixed sandy fill (c. 1.8m deep), which contained moderate amounts of shell and boulders, lay on bedrock. A number of finds came from this layer, including blackware and modern pottery. A trench in the centre of the site was abandoned at a depth of 1m as the remains of a modern water drain were disturbed.

Glenbonniv, Feakle, Co. Clare