2007:1555 - 4 Teeling Street, Abbey Quarter, SLIGO, Sligo

The development site is located at 4 Teeling Street, Sligo. Since the site lies within the zone of archaeological potential of Sligo town (SL014–065), Sligo Borough Council required that an archaeological assessment of the site be carried out prior to the commencement of any subsurface works.
The development site is situated in the vicinity of Jones’ Castle, an urban tower-house, the site of which is considered to be at the corner of Telling Street and Abbey Street (Gallagher, forthcoming). Jones’ Castle was built in the 1590s by Sir Roger Jones (1580–1635), an ex-lieutenant in the Elizabethan army, major landowner and one of the leading merchants in the town. Jones’ Castle came under siege during the Rebellion of 1641 when it was occupied by Lady Mary Jones. Until the mid-1700s the land east of Jones’ Castle was rural in nature, occupied by garden plots, orchards and grazing land. In 1714 a deed of sale for the castle describes the property as including ‘barns, stables, dovehouses, malt-houses, haggard, gardens [and] orchards’. In the 1750s the castle appears on a sketch map as belonging to Richard Gethin near the corner of Old Market Street (now Teeling Street) and Abbey Street, probably not far from the modern ACC Bank.
Across the road from the site of Jones’ Castle at the corner of Teeling Street and Castle Street near Conway’s Bar is Crean’s Castle. The nearby, and roughly contemporaneous, castles of Crean and Jones are sometimes mistaken for each other. Crean’s Castle was demolished, according to eyewitness accounts, some time between 1798 and 1807. By the 19th century the site of Jones’ Castle was known as ‘the Castle plot’, the tower-house itself either in ruins or demolished. Road widening during the 1800s as well as the residential development in the area meant that over time the exact position of the tower-house became obscured.
Of the three test-trenches excavated, only in Trench 1 were features and deposits of archaeological significance uncovered. It is considered that the wall footing uncovered in Trench 1 represents part of the southern extent of a thick-walled stone building, possibly quite substantial in size, of medieval or post-medieval date. These masonry remains could be the foundations of a stair- or corner-tower relating to a tower-house. The stone rubble footings appear to be external foundations for a yard floor. From the analysis of documentary sources Jones’ Castle is believed to have been located opposite the entrance of Castle Street near the corner of Teeling Street and Abbey Street. Given the close proximity of the probable site of Jones’ Castle and the substantial nature of the stone wall footing uncovered in Trench 1, it is considered likely that the masonry features uncovered could well relate to the structure known as Jones’ Castle.
Reference
Gallagher, F. 2008 The urban evolution of Sligo.