2013:065 - Distillery Road, Galway, Galway

Pre-development testing was carried out on 21 and 22 March 2013, at a site on the NUIG campus, off Distillery Road in Galway City.  The proposed development consisted of the demolition and removal of a number of modern structures and the construction of a cycle park and car park.  The testing was required due to the proximity of the proposed development to a dovecote (GA094-039).  The dovecote and attached sections of wall (which formed the south-west and part of the south-east site boundary) were thought to possibly be the remains of the bawn wall and one of the two corner towers of the castle of Newcastle, which was located on the west bank of the River Corrib and was in existence in 1574.  The castle was replaced by a brewery and subsequently a distillery, which was built on the site in the late 18^th or early 19^th century.  The 1^st edition OS six-inch map of 1840 shows Newcastle Distillery, immediately south-east of which is a walled garden with two corner towers.  The canal which bisects the garden on the 1^st edition map and which now bounds the proposed development site to the north-east, was part of a mill race constructed as part of the distillery.  Previous testing of the site by Anne Carey in 2002 (02E0915?), revealed fill which contained a number of limestone building stones and nothing of archaeological significance.

Testing consisted of the excavation of six trenches, located to cover the area of the proposed development and to specifically assess the archaeological significance of the south-west and part of the south-east boundary walls.  The trenches measured 6m, 6.2m, 6.1m, 15.1m, 15m and 160m long respectively, 1.5-2.4m wide and 0.4-2.4m deep.

Below the modern surface dressings of gravel and tarmac were modern fills, including backfill over a large modern sewer which crossed the south-south-east end of the site, a layer of cobbles, topsoil and natural subsoils.  A number of cut stone blocks were recovered from the fill.  These may have come from the distillery which once stood nearby.  The base of the south-west and south-east boundary walls revealed poorly constructed loose rubble foundations (where they existed), which contained a modern pottery sherd.  Nothing about the four sections of the boundary walls which were exposed during the testing appeared to suggest a medieval date for their construction.

The testing revealed the remains of what was a walled garden, as shown on the 1^st edition OS six-inch map, dating to 1840, of which the boundary walls and the cobbles have survived.  The walled garden has undergone much disturbance in the years since.

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