2004:1365 - FERMANAGH STREET, CLONES, Monaghan

The site is located within the zone of archaeological potential established around early monastic remains. One of the monuments within the complex, a high cross (11:10(05)), is located at the north end of The Diamond, immediately to the south-east of the development. Prior to the partial clearance of the site, an architectural assessment was undertaken on 15 March 2004 by Aislinn Collins. The site rises steeply from the street frontage to the rear, where it is bounded by the churchyard wall of St Tigernach's Church. The ground drops slightly from south to north along the site. The site was derelict and was covered with rubble, building material and vegetation.

The form and appearance of the standing remains on the site are consistent with a construction date in the 18th or 19th centuries. The walls are a maximum of 0.45m in width with shallow foundations, and no sections of obviously medieval fabric were noted during the course of the assessment. It is likely that the walls represent the remnants of modern plot boundaries and outbuildings visible on the historic maps of the site.

Testing took place on 12 May 2004. Initial clearance of the site prior to this resulted in several areas of subsoil being exposed. This is a light-brown sand with limestone inclusions scattered throughout. The topsoil was very shallow, consisting of a light spread of dark mixed soil with rubble scattered throughout. Four trenches were excavated using a mechanical digger equipped with a 2m ditching bucket. Three trenches were excavated running north-south across the rear of the site and one was excavated running east-west at the narrower front of the site. Apparently a chemist's shop had been on the site and several 20th-century coloured glass medicine bottles and an enamel-covered shallow tin bowl were retrieved from the southern end of the site in and around Trench 1.

The investigation revealed that natural subsoil lay extremely close to the present ground surface. The average depth of topsoil was 10-40mm and consisted of compacted rubble near the eastern end of the site (at the lower ground level near the road front). The finds uncovered were modern in date, including some 20th-century coloured-glass medicine bottles, bottle tops, red-brick fragments and some animal rib bones. The ground appears not to have been previously disturbed and no features of archaeological significance were noted.