2006:439 - BALLYSHANNON: Abbey View Terrace II and III, Donegal

Abbey View Terrace is at the north side of Ballyshannon. An adjacent separate development, Abbey View Terrace I, was tested in 2003 (Excavations 2003, No. 386, 03E0034). As Abbey View Terrace II, a bakery site, and Abbey View Terrace III, Pascal’s, are now one combined development, 34m by 27m, testing was carried out in one phase of work, though two licence applications had been made. Two reports were written, 06E0675b for Abbey View Terrace II and 06E0675p for Abbey View Terrace III. The applications were for demolition of the existing buildings and concrete covered yards and the erection of apartment blocks.

Following demolition of the buildings and partial clearance of these sites, removal of the resultant building debris was monitored. At that stage it was clear at many places that there was no sign of a former sod layer. Having removed the buildings, a total of 97.25m by almost 2m wide was opened in five trenches.

Beneath the foundation materials of the buildings the natural ground was a bright brown glacial deposit with stones and rocks. Only in this material, but only to the north or front of the site, was there any sign of past human activity. This was in the form of two drains, some sewer pipes, some recent wall foundations and some dumps of rubbish that were clearly of modern vintage. It appears that the bakery buildings on Abbey View Terrace II were built on ground that had been stripped of topsoil. Likewise it appears that the rear of Abbey View Terrace III had also been stripped. The front part of Abbey View Terrace II did not have buildings on it and some foundations of the preceding generation had survived here. In contrast, the most recent buildings along the front seem to have been built on the foundation and ground-floor materials from the preceding generation of construction. There was no indication of surviving topsoil under these.

There were no archaeological finds of any sort.

Bóthar an Chorainn, Keash, Co. Sligo