County: Offaly Site name: THE MARINA, BANAGHER
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 21:3 Licence number: 05E0559
Author: Kieran Campbell, 6 St Ultan’s, Laytown, Co. Meath.
Site type: Riverbank monitoring
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 600710m, N 715866m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.193248, -7.989365
Monitoring took place during riverbank excavations associated with the installation of new jetties at Silverline Cruisers, Banagher, located in the townland of Curraghavarna and Portavolla. The marinas are constructed partly on the former site of Banagher railway station, the terminus of the 18-mile Clara to Banagher branch line of the Great Southern and Western Railway, which opened in 1861 and closed on 1 January 1963. The marinas were originally constructed in the 1970s, when material dredged from the riverbed was spread on the adjacent riverbank.
The construction of the new jetties required the insertion of a sheet pile retaining wall and the removal of a 5m-wide strip of the riverbank over a distance of 85m. The deposits uncovered reflected the known history and development of the site, with no finds of archaeological interest being made.
