2012:275 - 15 Merchants Road Lower, Galway, Galway

Monitoring of groundworks was carried out over a number of periods in 2009, 2010 and up to August 2012 at No. 15 Lower Merchants Road in Galway City (Excavations 2009, No. 398, Excavations 2010, No. 339).  The development consisted of the demolition of an existing house and the construction of a three-screen cinema.  Pre-development testing of the site was undertaken in September 2008 (Excavations 2008, No. 550) and revealed evidence of modern activity associated with the existing 19^th-century dwelling. Nothing of archaeological significance was uncovered, however, safety issues meant the test trenches did not exceed 1.6m deep and as no natural undisturbed layers were in evidence and the proposed excavation would exceed 5m it was recommended that monitoring of groundworks be undertaken.

The pre-development testing and subsequent monitoring were necessary due to location of the site within the constraint for Galway (GA094-100), albeit outside the line of the medieval town wall. The development site was located on the corner of Lower Merchants Road and Spanish Parade, in an area reclaimed from Galway Bay during the post-medieval period.

The area to be reduced measured 22m long (north-west/south-east) and 11m wide.  Apart from the foundations of the 19^th-century building, rubble fill was found over the entire site area and measured up to 2m thick.  It contained red/yellow brick, modern pottery sherds, modern glass fragments, tile, slate, mortar, wire, metal and oyster shell fragments.  Below the rubble fill was a grey/black friable sandy silt loam which contained oyster shells and measured up to 1.2m thick.  A roughly coursed mortared rubble wall/foundation was found along the south-west side of the site below the rubble fill.  It was located along the line of the south-west boundary wall of No. 15 Lower Merchants Road and appeared to have been contemporary with the filling up of the site in the 18^th century.  Two natural deposits, a grey/black loose sand and gravel and a grey plastic boulder clay, were visible as high as 2.7m and c. 4m below the surface respectively.  Below them was bedrock, visible as high as 3.5m below the surface.

            Evidence of 18^th/19^th-century activity on the site, much of it associated with the building which was demolished, was uncovered during the groundworks.  Otherwise nothing of archaeological significance was revealed within the development site. None of the modern artefacts recovered during the monitoring were retained.

As part of the development a 125mm duct was laid from the Custom House on Flood Street, along New Dock Road and Lower Merchants Road to the development site.  It was located beside an existing ESB cable and the existing gas main.  Quite a number of other services/ducts were found along various sections of the trench, which measured 0.6-0.7m wide and 0.8-0.9m deep.  Below the tarmac, quarried stone/gravel and rubble fill, was a mid-dark brown friable silt loam which contained occasional animal bone fragments and oyster shell and which was not fully excavated.  A section of the town wall was uncovered at 20.02m from the northern corner of the adjacent House Hotel, at 0.4-0.72m below the surface.  It was constructed of rubble and crossed the trench in a north-north-east/south-south-west direction.  The wall was covered in terram and sand prior to the laying of the duct above it.  The existing ESB service was located directly on top of the wall.  A stone culvert was also uncovered near the north-west side of Flood Street, running in the same direction as the street, at 0.4-0.6m below the surface.  It was 0.4m wide internally and appeared to be constructed of mortared rubble.  An opening was made on either side of the culvert through which the ducting was laid.

Monitoring of groundworks on a related proposed development at the adjacent No. 16 Lower Merchants Road, is due to take place in 2013.

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