2008:871 - Cornmarket, Ballinrobe, Mayo

Pre-development testing was carried out on 19 December 2008 at a site in advance of development at Cornmarket, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo. The site was located within the constraint for Ballinrobe town (MA118–022). The site consisted of a two-storey dwelling, part of a terrace which runs along the northern side of the Cornmarket in Ballinrobe. To the rear of the dwelling was a two-storey concrete outhouse and yard with a raised lawn further to the north. The dwelling appeared to date to the 19th century, with 20th-century internal alterations and a flat-roofed extension to the rear. The development consisted of the conversion and extension of the dwelling house and change of use from a dwelling house to a hostel.
The testing consisted of the excavation (by machine) of one trench in the one accessible area of the site; i.e. the open yard to the rear of the dwelling house, alongside the concrete outhouse. The trench measured 11.9m long, 1–1.2m wide and 0.2–0.4m deep. Below the concrete and maintenance/quarried stone on the surface was orange/brown plastic compact clay (natural subsoil), visible as high as 0.1m below the surface. As the lawn area to the north was 1.1m higher than the yard and the floor of the adjacent outhouse/shed to the west of the yard, it appeared that this area must have been reduced at some time in the 20th century. No artefacts were recovered. Nothing of archaeological significance was revealed.