2006;1752 - ROSCOMMON: Castle Street (Ballypheasan), Roscommon

Pre-development testing was carried out on the site of a proposed residential/commercial development at Castle Street, Roscommon, on 4 December 2006. The site lies within the area of constraint around the historic town. A site inspection in October revealed that a building fronting on to Castle Street had been demolished (its mass concrete foundations were clearly visible) and the rubble stockpiled to the rear of the site.

Testing comprised the excavation of five trenches, two across the site of the proposed office/retail building at the front of the site and three on the site of the proposed apartment block and landscaped public area to the rear of the site. Trenching at the front of the site revealed modern deposits, 0.3–0.65m in thickness, overlying tan-coloured clayey sand natural. To the rear of the site 0.3m of rubble sealed a modern garden soil deposit, 0.35–0.55m in thickness, which overlay light-orange/brown subsoil. A linear feature was uncovered in the north-east part of the site. It extended a minimum length of 14m east–west and measured 0.85m wide and 0.65m deep. It contained a compact fill of dark-grey clayey silt that yielded two sherds of post-medieval pottery and a clay-pipe stem fragment. The feature appears to correspond with an old property boundary marked on the first-edition OS map. No archaeological material was uncovered during testing.

Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway