2009:AD11 - ST BRENDAN’S HOSPITAL, LAKE ROAD, LOUGHREA, Galway

Testing, carried out in advance of the proposed development of a community nursing unit building, was undertaken in March 2009 across 0.52ha of the grounds of St Brendan’s Hospital. Some 0.05ha of test-trenches were opened, on the basis of landscape analysis and accessibility. The development site is on a landscaped grass lawn sloping down to the Lake Road, overlooking the lakeshore on the western side of Lough Rea, to the south-east of the main hospital building, a former workhouse (GA105–140). Testing was undertaken in February 2009. The later monitoring of topsoil-stripping in advance of development was undertaken in March 2009, with the assistance of Peter Kerins.
Bedrock outcropped through the existing soil in places at the eastern edge of the site, and bedrock or sterile subsoil was identified at depths of 0.35–0.7m (deeper on the downslope western side of the development). A single stone-lintel (^French’) land drain was identified during testing, as was another late post-medieval land drain. Their presence, and the lack of significant archaeology on the site, was confirmed during the subsequent archaeological monitoring of topsoil-stripping.