County: Mayo Site name: Abbeyquarter, Ballyhaunis
Sites and Monuments Record No.: MA093–063 (vicinity of) Licence number: 08E0531
Author: Dominic Delany, Dominic Delany & Associates, Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway.
Site type: Testing
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 549862m, N 779216m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.760142, -8.760347
Test excavations were carried out at Abbeyquarter, Ballyhaunis, on 30 June. The site was formerly in the ownership of the Augustinian abbey, founded in 1348 and located to the north of the proposed development. Six trenches were opened across the footprint of the development using a tracked excavator fitted with a wide grading bucket. Although several features were found during the course of testing none could be shown to be archaeological. A ditch in Trench 3 was probably early shoring or a relict boundary. A bank which appeared in both Trenches 4 and 5 could be traced back towards the house and shed in the north of the field and was part of an earlier road. A ditch found in Trenches 4 and 5 corresponds to the boundary seen on the RMP and recent OS maps. These features are related as the road travelled along the east side of the boundary ditch and bank. Features found in Trench 6, including the displaced foundations of a gate pier and modern rubbish pits, are associated with the house and shed to the north-west. Nothing of archaeological significance was found.
