County: Westmeath Site name: 12 Church Street, Athlone
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 06E0831
Author: Antoine Giacometti, Arch-Tech Ltd, 32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2.
Site type: Urban, medieval/post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 604046m, N 741520m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.423782, -7.939120
This small site to the rear of No. 12 Church Street, Athlone, was the subject of an assessment and testing report in 2006 (Excavations 2006, No. 2030, 06E0831); monitoring took place here in 2007.
Overall, the investigations demonstrated extensive disturbance dating to the late 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The disturbance appears to cover the whole area of the plot, with the exception of the northernmost 3–4m along Preaching Lane. It was possible to preserve the in situ archaeological deposits in this area, which is now to comprise three car-parking spaces at present ground level.
Evidence for the formalisation of the plot and its inclusion into the urban area of Athlone was recovered in the earlier testing programme and archaeological works at the less-disturbed adjacent site of No. 10 exposed early post-medieval consolidation layers and a cobbled surface in the rear yard of the property. No associated artefacts were recovered; however, the documentary sources suggest a 17th-century date for the establishment of Church Street. It is at this time that the plot boundaries of No. 12 were put into place, although much of the wall (now demolished) between Nos 10 and 12 Church Street dated to the 18th and 19th centuries due to extensive renovation.
Evidence for continued occupation of the property through the 18th and 19th centuries was found in the form of cellarage extending through the centre of the site and a masonry-lined pit of no obvious function to the rear of the existing building.
