County: Galway Site name: High Street/Sawpit Lane, Tuam
Sites and Monuments Record No.: GA029–199 Licence number: E3454, C223
Author: Dominic Delany, Dominic Delany & Associates, Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway.
Site type: Urban
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 543375m, N 751937m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.514364, -8.853754
Pre-development testing was carried out at the site of the proposed new Tuam Area Office and Library on 7 August 2007. Temple Jarlath, the site of an Early Christian monastic foundation, is located to the east of the development site, and St Mary’s Cathedral, a 19th-century building incorporating elements of the original Romanesque cathedral with later Gothic chancel, lies to the south-west. Following demolition works three trenches were opened across the development site. Testing revealed successive rubble layers associated with two phases of demolition works at the site. The rubble occasionally overlay a thin layer of grey/brown sandy silt but more frequently overlay the light-grey/brown clayey sand subsoil. No archaeological material was uncovered.
