2012:274 - Fishmarket, Galway, Galway

Monitoring of exploratory works, part of a feasibility study commissioned by Galway City Council on the development of Comerford House in Galway City, took place on 12 September and 11 October 2012.  The building, which is located adjacent to the Spanish Arch, dates to c. 1830 with a renovation c. 1950 and is a protected structure (no. 4003 in Galway City Council’s Record of Protected Structures).

Comerford House was constructed against the medieval town wall                   (GA094-100001) and indeed into the fabric of the wall, which terminates along the River Corrib with the Spanish Arch.  Construction of the town wall began in the second half of the 13^th century.  The Spanish Arch was constructed in the late 16^th century with the 1651 Pictorial Map showing four arches, which may have been altered to two (one blind) when the seaward side of the town wall was reclaimed in the 18^th century.  The town wall forms the rear wall of Comerford House with its exterior face clearly visible in the open public space between the Spanish Arch and the Galway City Museum to the south-east.  This area was excavated in 1988/1989 under the directorship of the late Markus Casey (Excavations 1988, No. 26, pp. 19-20) and more recently prior to the construction of Galway City Museum.

The exploratory works consisted of the excavation of two trial holes in order to assess the foundations of the front wall/porch of the building, the removal of a number of sections of the plaster ceilings and floor boards and the taking of a number of samples of render and mortar within the interior and from the exterior of the building.  Evidence of the early 19^th-century building and the mid-20^th century renovation was uncovered during monitoring of the exploratory works.  Nothing of archaeological significance was revealed.  No artefacts were recovered.

4 Lecka Grove, Castlebar Road, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo.