2009:420 - BISHOP’S STREET, TUAM, Galway

Excavations were undertaken here in July and August 2009. The site is located in the north-eastern quarter of Tuam town centre and the development boundary encloses 3.6ha. It is proposed to redevelop the entire site. The proposed development will have a potential impact on four monuments within the monastic town: GA029–068A (an ecclesiastical enclosure), GA029–173 (the site of a castle), GA029–203 (the site of an unclassified earthwork) and GA029–172 (the site of a monument known as ^the chair of Tuam’). It will also have a potential impact on an area of the bank of the River Nanny and sites of various buildings marked on the first-edition OS map of Tuam.
A second phase of testing within the development site was undertaken in four areas in order to establish the context and scale and if possible the date and function of the features identified during the initial phase of testing and assessment undertaken by Gerry Mullins in 2008 (Excavations 2008, No. 584).
The excavations in Area 1 revealed the presence of the footings for a possible wall. The wall was identified in two of the three trenches excavated in the area and, based on cartographic evidence, would appear to represent the boundary wall of a laneway marked on the first-edition OS map which, it has been suggested, followed the line of the ecclesiastical enclosure surrounding Templenascreen (GA029–68A). A shallow ditch without any evidence for a bank was identified to the east of the wall. The shallow nature of the ditch would suggest it is unlikely to represent an ecclesiastical enclosure. The ditch was only evident in one of the trenches excavated. A larger ditch running east–west was also identified. The ditch was recut and had a depth of 1m and an exposed width of 2.2m. This was a substantial ditch which was revealed below the garden soil and cut into the natural subsoil. It is possible that the ditch represents a boundary contemporary with the medieval ecclesiastical enclosure.
The excavations in Area 2 revealed the presence of two ditches, the fills of which both contained modern pottery. The upper levels in the area contained deposits consistent with the use of the area as revealed on the first-edition OS map, which identifies the presence of buildings and lanes. The two ditches are possibly contemporary with this phase of use. Neither of the two excavated ditches is likely to represent the remains of an ecclesiastical enclosure which it has been suggested follows the line of the boundary wall immediately to the south of excavation Area 2.
The old course of the River Nanny was revealed in Area 3. Under the upper fill and the garden soil a 6m-wide deposit of large stones and gravel filled the bed of the old river to a depth of 1.1m. The sides showed signs that it had been lined with large boulders as some sort of revetment of the sides of the river. No other features were identified on the north or south bank of the river.
In Area 4, to the south of the Bishop’s Palace, a cobbled surface was located, in six of the seven trenches excavated, at a depth of between 0.8–0.6m below the present ground level. The surface was not laid in any pattern and the individual cobbles had a flat surface and ranged in size from 0.08–0.12m. The cobbles were set into and were also covered by a dark-brown silty clay or garden soil. The cobble surface was defined to the south by a collapsed wall, which it has been suggested ran east–west across the area to the south of the Bishop’s Palace. The wall was subsequently demolished and partially formed the fill, which created the current discrepancy between the ground level within the carpark to the south of the Bishop’s Palace and the level along Bishop’s Street further to the south. The cobbled surface is probably contemporary with the Bishop’s Palace.