County: Longford Site name: St Christopher’s Services, Battery Road, Longford
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 07E0868
Author: Caitríona Gleeson, Mausrour, Gneeveguilla, Rathmore, Co. Kerry, for The Archaeology Company.
Site type: Urban, gaol
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 613047m, N 776703m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.739808, -7.802231
Pre-development testing, as part of an archaeological assessment, of a site at St Christopher’s Services, Battery Road, Longford, was carried out on behalf of the Department of Education and Science. The proposed development comprises the extension of the existing school. Testing was carried out as part of preparation for a planning application and in concurrence with an archaeological assessment of the site. The area proposed for development lies within the boundary of the historic town of Longford (LF013–026) and inside the limits of the former town gaol.
Test excavation was undertaken over two days from 20 September 2007. Ten trenches were excavated across the proposed area of development. The presence of existing services and standing buildings across the proposed site necessitated a deviation in some instances from the original trench plan. Test excavation undertaken in the area of proposed development did not identify any evidence of archaeological material or cultural layers pre-dating the 19th century. A series of walls, foundations levels and possible ditches relating to the 19th-century Longford County Gaol were exposed across the site.
