2008:122 - River Fergus Upper, Ennis, Clare

Monitoring was undertaken of excavation works associated with the certified drainage works along the upper River Fergus, Co. Clare. Works included the excavation of footprint areas for three new pumping stations at Wood Quay, Mill Street and Island carpark. The stratigraphy at the location of these pump houses comprised fill overlying a band of organic material (0.3m deep) and sterile silt (0.2m deep), which sealed bedrock which lay 2m below present ground. During monitoring, an old slipway was uncovered on the southern bank of the river, c. 40m to the west of Bank Place Bridge and 0.8–1.2m below the existing ground level. It comprised a cobbled locked surface c. 5m long and 2.2m wide. The slipway was probably closed off when the quay wall was last rebuilt around the late 19th or early 20th century. A containing wall was revealed 2.2m north of the existing quay wall and 0.8m below ground level. No further features of archaeological note were uncovered and although the material removed from the riverbed/riverbank was scanned with a metal detector, no archaeological artefacts were recovered. Further monitoring will be carried out on work scheduled to continue in 2009.