2004:1543 - SLIGO: Connaughton Road/Holborn Road, Sligo

The development consists of a mixed commercial/ apartment scheme on a site on the corner of Holborn Street and Connaughton Road, on the eastern bank of the Garvoge River in Sligo town. The area is bounded to the west by Holborn Street, to the north by Connaughton Road, to the east by a carpark and to the south by existing developments. The site is to the north-west of Sligo town centre. It is situated at the western end of a ridge of high ground, to the east of which lies the summit of a hill that is surmounted by a earthen star-shaped fort known locally as the 'Green Fort'. The site is relatively level, but the general area slopes gradually from east to west towards the Garvoge River. Prior to development, the site consisted of an architecturally nondescript building fronting out on to Holborn Street with buildings abutting to the south. The site is currently waste ground, the buildings having been demolished and the rubble removed. The site is within the limits of the zone of archaeological potential of Sligo town (SMR 14:65).

Development in this part of Sligo appears, from the surviving archaeological record, to have been relatively late. The foundations that were uncovered dated to the 19th century at the earliest. These foundations suggest that the site originally consisted of at least two distinct plots, the first fronting out on to Connaughton Road and the second on to Holborn Street. The actual corner space between the two may have been too small for development and may have been retained as a green space, an area which in the 20th century was enclosed by railings.

There was no evidence uncovered of any deposits dating earlier than the 19th century. The sloping natural subsoil simply reflected the lie of the land, which falls away to the west towards the river.

Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast BT12 5BJ