2006:1754 - ROSCOMMON: 16 Henry Street, Ballypheasan, Roscommon

Pre-development testing was conducted as part of an assessment in advance of the construction of an extension to a medical practice, a two-bedroomed bungalow, six townhouses, three garages, a dispensary and associated site works at 16 Henry Street, Roscommon, within the area of archaeological constraint of the town. The development site is located at the rear of 16 Henry Street on ground that originally comprised two separate rear gardens at the southern end of the town. The development site is on flat ground c. 200m south of the former site of the Augustinian abbey (now St Comman’s Church of Ireland) and 300m north of the Dominican friary. This site is overgrown and quite narrow, c. 15m wide. The two abbeys co-existed from the late 13th century to the late 16th century in relative harmony and indeed shared a common market in the area midway between the two in what is modern Henry Street.

Two machine-cut test-trenches were excavated across the proposed development site. Trenches I and II were both 1.5m wide by 25m long orientated north-west/south-east. Each trench was excavated stratigraphically using a six-tonne mechanical digger equipped with a toothless bucket. The spoil from the trenches was shaken out in order to recover any small finds. A thin uniform dark-brown loamy topsoil rested directly on a deep mid-brown subsoil. No archaeological finds or features were uncovered during the course of testing. A range of modern material was recovered from the trenches, including sherds of modern pottery, animal bone, glass, iron, brick and coal cinders, in addition to plastic bags and numerous glass bottles.

Coosan Athlone, Co. Westmeath