2007:1549 - SLIGO: Knappagh Beg, Sligo

The excavation of groundworks within the basement of the Sligo Methodist church was undertaken under archaeological supervision. The church, which dates from 1830, is situated within the zone of archaeological potential of Sligo town (SL014–065) and is listed in the Sligo and Environs Development Plan as a protected structure. The main façade comprises cut limestone with side and rear walls of coursed gravel limestone. Windows are single glazed, some with stained glass, all in painted timber frames. The pitched roof is finished in imitation slate and runs between two valleys behind a gable at the front and to a verge at the rear.

The internal space comprises a three-sided gallery with pitched-pine pew seating, supported on quatrefoil timber columns and beams. The main ground floor consists of pitched-pine seating, high pulpit and communion rail and entrance lobby. There is a basement area at the rear used for a recreation games room and adjoining a centrally located void, filled with rubble and enclosing a disused heating pipe. A chimney at the back of the church has been removed. This may have been linked to a boiler system as part of a redundant heating system remains which is understood to have circulated warm air. A large diameter clay pipe exists in a void area under the floor which links with a manhole cover in the church floor. There is no other evidence of this earlier heating other than a plaque on the wall which makes reference to the heating system in the church being donated by the widow and children of John Good, a senior circuit steward. The church building has not been used for several years due to the general state of disrepair. One section has been cordoned off due to it being a dangerous structure.

To the east of the main building there is a new church hall and suite of meeting rooms which was completed in 2001. On the west side there is an adjoining three-storey manse erected some time after construction of the church. Its condition has deteriorated in recent years and is currently the subject of a sale. The incumbent minister resides at the Methodist Manse, Ardaghowen, Sligo.

During December 2007 and January 2008 excavations within the basement of the church were undertaken under supervision. The groundworks consisted of the underpinning of the interior of the south and west walls of the church and the excavation of two foundation pads in the basement. The concrete floor surface of the basement was cut and lifted to facilitate the excavation of the clays beneath. The excavation works were undertaken by machine/hand, depending on access and trench depth. Other groundworks monitored consisted of the reduction of an unstable internal basement wall and removal of a quantity of made-up ground retained by this wall. It became evident following the commencement of groundworks that the reduction of this internal basement wall would be required for structural as well as health and safety reasons. The weight of the made-up ground retained behind this wall contributed largely to its unsound nature. From the material contained within it this made-up ground can be dated to the late 19th/early 20th century.

No archaeological deposits, artefacts or structures other than later 19th and early 20th date were discovered or disturbed during the course of the works undertaken within the basement of Sligo Methodist Church.