2006:1405 - Main Street, Ballinrobe, Mayo

Pre-development testing was carried out on 22 September 2006 at a site at Main Street, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo. The proposed development, the construction of a three-storey building comprising shop unit to ground floor and two apartments to first and second floors, the demolition of one outbuilding and the conversion of one outbuilding to two-storey apartment, connection to public sewer and all ancillary site works, was located within the archaeological constraint for Ballinrobe town. No archaeological features were visible within the proposed development site, which consisted of a tarred yard containing a number of outhouses. The yard was adjacent to a large early 19th-century dwelling house, formerly a rectory.
Testing consisted of the excavation (by machine) of two trenches, which measured 27.8m and 4.3m long, 1–1.4m wide and 0.35–1.15m deep. Below the tarmac was cobbles and modern rubble fill, above topsoil, above sterile grey/orange/brown plastic clay. The topsoil and fill contained modern pottery sherds, a red-brick fragment, a small number of animal bones and one oyster shell. A land drain, which was uncovered at 0.8m below the surface in one of the trenches, contained red-brick fragments and one modern pottery sherd.
The testing revealed evidence of modern activity associated with the large 19th-century dwelling house. Nothing of archaeological significance was revealed.