2007:655 - LOUGHREA: Moore Street, Galway

A programme of excavation and monitoring was carried out at Moore Street, Loughrea, Co. Galway, in March 2007. The proposed development involved the construction of fifteen apartments, the conversion of a three-storey dwelling into ground-floor surgery space and first- and second-floor apartments, the demolition of a derelict outbuilding to the rear of the existing dwelling; the existing coach house is to be renovated as a studio apartment with a small (8.5m2) ground-floor extension and an underground car parking area, access roads and footpaths, associated site works and services and landscaping to open spaces.

The site is adjacent to the constraint zone for the town of Loughrea (GA105–150). An earlier programme of testing by Declan Moore excavated three test-trenches throughout the site. They revealed the presence of what appeared to be a ditch, measuring c. 3m in width by 2.5–3m in depth (Excavations 2006, No. 823). This ditch appeared to be archaeological in nature and as a result mitigation in the form of preservation by record was recommended.

The programme of monitoring and excavation revealed the presence of three features. All were located in the area of the former site garden, which has been designated to become an underground carpark. F1 was identified in the pre-development testing as a possible ditch. This feature was fully investigated, with the complete extent of the feature exposed. These investigations revealed an apparent naturally created rock face, which was filled with heavily mixed mottled clay. The two additional features were excavated in the south-east of the site. They were both subsoil-cut features, each filled with horizons that had inclusions of modern china wear, and metals in the basal horizons, and were therefore not of archaeological significance.

Corporate House, Ballybrit Business Park, Galway