2003:1601 - ROSCOMMON: Main Street and Market Yard, Roscommon

A proposed large shopping arcade on the east side of the square in Roscommon town covers an area of open ground measuring 76m east-west by 32m. The site was enclosed by a well-built wall of no antiquity along the north and south and was unenclosed along the east. The buildings along the west of the site are listed structures and include Harlow's pub and adjacent two-storey house. Fifteen test-trenches were excavated throughout the site. Most of the material from the site consisted of a brown clay topsoil above a fawn or yellow daub, stony in places. However, some small pits in four of the trenches appeared to be of archaeological potential.

In Trench 2, which ran east-west for 64m, three small hollows 0.14m deep were cut into the boulder clay near the west end. These contained a rich black loamy clay and some small stones near the base. A similar fill came from small hollows in three other trenches. At a distance of 4.2m from the north end of Trench 7 (which ran north-south for 29m) an elongated depression measured 4.2m by 0.5m wide and 0.32m deep at most. Smaller pits near the centre and north end of Trench 11 (which ran north-south for 29m) varied from 0.18 to 0.4m deep into the boulder clay. There was also a damaged French drain at the north end of Trench 12 (which ran north-south for 29m). There were no artefacts recovered from any of the trenches.

52 Phoenix Court, Ennis, Co. Clare