2008:546 - Dominick Street, Galway, Galway

Testing and monitoring were carried out in Dominick Street and surrounding areas in Galway city in September 2008 as part of investigative works in advance of the Galway Main Drainage Scheme, Contract 3. Two monuments are recorded near the junction of Lower Dominick Street and Bridge Street, GA094–104 (a mill) and GA094–100 (the town defences). Previous work carried out by Anne Connolly (Archaeological Services Unit Ltd) in 1998 on the site of the Galway Arms public house exposed a portion of a broad wall that extended under the existing carriageway (Excavations 1998, No. 244, 98E0223). This wall was interpreted as a possible fortification dating to the early 17th century, as depicted on Speed’s pictorial map of Galway, drawn in 1651.
Four trenches were excavated in and around Dominick Street. Trenches 1 and 2 were excavated at the junction point of Dominick Street Lower and Bridge Street. Both trenches extended northwards and westwards from the pavement outside the Galway Arms. Trench 1 ran across the southern carriageway of the road and Trench 2 ran east–west near the kerbline in the direction of Mill Street. In both instances the trenches were dug to a depth of 1.4m and exposed in situ granite masonry at a depth of 0.6m. Due to the keyhole nature of the works, it was not possible to define the nature or extent of the structures, however given their presence in a recorded area of the town’s outer defences, the archaeological potential for these possible walls has to be classified as good.
Trenches 3 and 4 were located in the middle of Dominick Street near the canal bridge approaching Dominick Street Upper. A dark organic-rich layer 1m below the existing road surface was identified in Trench 3. Trench 4 was entirely infilled with rubble and masonry. One stone from this rubble was roughly squared, with sparrow-pecked tooling on its face.