2003:1960 - CASTLEPOLLARD: Packenhamhall Street, Westmeath

Monitoring of excavations for a proposed development of nine townhouses at Packenhamhall Street, Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath, was carried out on 6 and 7 May 2003. A church is located c. 200m north of the site. OS maps indicate that the site was previously covered by a row of cottages fronting onto Packenhamhall Street, with numerous sheds and outbuildings located to the rear of the dwellings. These buildings were demolished about 50 years ago and a stone wall was built along Packenhamhall Street. In recent years the site was used as a mechanic's yard.

Before excavations commenced, a modern shed was demolished and a concrete slab around the building was broken and removed. The development site was strewn with rubble and was very disturbed as a result of previous developments and recent demolition works. Outcrops of broken sheet rock were exposed in the western part of the site. Elsewhere, a disturbed layer of mixed rubble and soil averaging 0.2m in thickness formed the site surface. In the western part of the site this layer directly overlay yellow/brown silty sand subsoil, while in the eastern part it overlay a layer of grey/brown sandy silt garden soil containing modern finds. The garden soil had a maximum thickness of 0.45m at the east end of the site and it overlay the yellow/brown silty sand subsoil. No archaeological material was discovered during monitoring.

Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway