2010:341 - Newcastle Road Upper, Galway, Galway

Monitoring of the stripping of topsoil at a site on Upper Newcastle Road, on the northern outskirts of Galway city, was carried out between 2 and 4 June 2010. The monitoring was a recommendation of a report on pre-development testing of the site carried out in May 2009. Testing revealed nothing of archaeological significance, however, due to the waterlogged nature of one area of the site which, as a result, could not be tested, monitoring was recommended. The proposed development consisted of the construction of a four-storey Science Research Building (SRB) on the northern campus of NUIG. There were no archaeological features visible within the development site with the nearest recorded monument, a cashel (GA082–071), located over 90m away to the north-east. A geophysical survey of the site, carried out prior to the pre-development testing in March 2009 under consent 09R63, had detected a number of anomalies.
An area measuring 134m long (north-north-west/south-south-east) and 38–51m wide was stripped for the SRB building and its immediate surrounds. An area was also stripped to the west-south-west of the SRB building, for access roads and parking, which measured 43.5m long and 43m wide. An area was stripped for a site compound at the north-west end of the site. It measured 32m long (north-east/south-west) and 14m wide. Below the topsoil was redeposited subsoil, which contained plastic, bits of metal and timber and lea-mix concrete, orange/grey/brown plastic clay and grey loose sand and gravel (natural subsoil). Stray finds recovered from the topsoil included several sherds of modern pottery, red/yellow brick fragments, oyster-shell fragments, modern glass fragments, one undecorated clay-pipe stem and one animal bone. Nothing of archaeological significance was in evidence.