County: Galway Site name: GALWAY: Barrack Lane
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E1131 ext.
Author: Richard Crumlish
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 530006m, N 725600m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.276103, -9.049463
Monitoring of groundworks associated with a mixed retail/office development at Barrack Lane, Galway, was carried out between 20 March and 18 September 2003. Following pre-development testing at the site in December 2001 (Excavations 2001, No. 503), monitoring of groundworks was requested by Dúchas. The groundworks consisted of piling and the excavation of a basement at the site.
The piling consisted of 325mm-diameter airdrilled piles at 500mm intervals around the perimeter of the site. The excavation for a basement covered the entire area of the development (24m long and 7–19.5m wide). A basement already existed below a section of the building fronting onto Barrack Lane. This basement measured 5.65m long, 7.6m wide and 2.35m high, internally. The monitored ground reduction measured 2.8m maximum depth.
Below the concrete floor and stone flag floor was rubble fill. Below this was dark-brown, friable silt loam, which was on top of orange/brown, friable, sandy silt loam. Below this was grey firm clay and grey loose sands and gravels. Below the existing basement, at the north-east end of the site, was sterile grey firm clay. A number of modern wall foundations were revealed which corresponded to the buildings recently demolished on the site.
The rubble fill contained modern artefacts and a number of services. The dark-brown, friable silt loam also contained modern artefacts. The piling produced no evidence of archaeology. The excavation for the basement revealed stratigraphy which had been disturbed in modern times, probably during construction of the 19th/20th-century buildings which were recently demolished on the site.
61 An Cladrach, Castlebar Road, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo
