2003:1679 - SLIGO: John Street/Johnson's Court, Sligo

Pre-development testing at the site of a retail development was carried out from 19 to 25 January 2003 at John Street/Johnson's Court, Sligo. The proposed development was located within the zone of archaeological potential for Sligo town (SMR 14:65). Previous testing of the site was undertaken by Elizabeth Connolly (Excavations 2002, No. 1667) in September 2002. The development area was located just north of John Street and west of O'Connell Street and consisted of part of Tesco's carpark, Johnson's Court carpark and the back yards of a number of properties facing onto John Street. Local knowledge suggested that the site was used in the past as a coal yard and was also the site of the Wood and Iron Company.

Testing consisted of the excavation (by machine) of four trenches, measuring 21.8m, 37m, 19.6m and 22m long, respectively, and 0.9–1.5m wide and 0.35–2.2m deep. The stratigraphy consisted of tarmac, hardcore and/or recent backfill and topsoil on the surface, below which was rubble fill and dark-brown friable silt loam. The fill consisted of boulders, red-brick fragments, metal fragments and timber. The dark-brown friable silt loam contained red-brick fragments, modern pottery and occasional oyster shells. Within the rubble fill and the silt loam were a number of narrow rubble and red-brick walls and their foundations. Below the silt loam was blue/grey firm silty clay loam. A number of modern services were also revealed.

The rubble fill, wall foundations and dark-brown silty loam yielded modern artefacts only. The blue/grey firm silty clay loam was sterile natural subsoil. The testing provided evidence of modern activity only.

61 An Cladrach, Castlebar Road, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo