County: Galway Site name: Newcastle Road Lower, Galway
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 10E0369
Author: Richard Crumlish, 4 Lecka Grove, Castlebar Road, Ballinrobe, County Mayo.
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 529209m, N 726008m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.279664, -9.061499
Monitoring of groundworks at a site within the NUIG Campus, off Lower Newcastle Road in Galway city, began on 7 September 2010 and has not yet been completed due to the main contractor entering into liquidation. The proposed development consists of the construction of a four-storey Humanities & Social Sciences Research Building (HSSRB) directly to the west of the existing James Hardiman Library (a protected structure). Although pre-development testing was a condition of planning permission, due to the disturbed nature of the proposed development site and in particular the concentration of services there, monitoring of groundworks was accepted as a more practical option by the heritage officer of Galway City Council and by the National Monuments Service.
An impact assessment of the proposed development found that the nearest potential recorded monument (GA094–089), an unclassified earthwork (now a redundant record), was no longer extant and its exact location was not known. The proposed development site prior to construction works consisted of a lawn and a pedestrian tarmac access, located within the university campus.
The site area measured 68m long and 23m wide and was reduced by 2.5–4m deep. The first phase of the groundworks was the uncovering and rerouting of the many services within the development site area. These included ESB, gas, water, surface/storm-water, street lighting and telecom. Some of the services were situated as low as 1.5m below the surface and included concrete chambers/man-holes.
Below the landscaped topsoil and the tarmac on the surface was hardcore and modern fill which contained the services. Below the fill was original topsoil and grey plastic boulder clay, orange/brown friable silt loam and orange/brown loose sand and gravel (natural subsoil). Bedrock was visible in places. The fill contained modern late 20th-century artifacts. The original topsoil contained modern glass fragments and modern pottery sherds.
Nothing of archaeological significance has been revealed thus far during monitoring, which is due to recommence in the near future.
