2014:496 - Loro Gate, Athenry, Galway

Monitoring and excavation was carried out in advance of conservation works at Loro Gate, Athenry, Co. Galway between October 2013 and April 2014. The remains of Loro Gate, one of four gates in the medieval town walls, was initially uncovered during monitoring of road works in August 2007. The site lay idle until 2013 when Galway County Council in association with RPS designed a new roundabout to accommodate the preservation in situ and display of the medieval gate. Howley Hayes Architects were retained to plan and design for the conservation and display of the Loro Gate and Dominic Delany & Associates were appointed archaeological consultants to the project. Following consultations with all stakeholders a programme of archaeological works was agreed and the required ministerial consent obtained. The works included excavation of the pipe trench extending through the core of the medieval wall, removal of the old cast iron pipe, excavations around the perimeter of the wall to expose buried stonework and prepare the ground for the installation of an effective gravel bed to improve drainage. It was further agreed that all groundworks associated with the development would be monitored.

Excavations were carried out from 10-21 October 2013. Intermittent monitoring and excavation took place throughout January and February 2014. The excavated remains comprise the south-east wall of the medieval Loro Gate. The wall is 5.4m long, has a maximum height of 0.7m and is 2.1m thick. It is a two-phase structure, a 0.6m wide buttress having been built up against the outer face of the original 1.5m thick wall. The structure is built on a boulder fill which forms a foundation platform within the moat of the medieval town defences. The wall abuts a substantial revetting wall (the town wall) on the inner edge of the moat. This indicates that the Loro Gate post-dates the original town defences as defined here by the moat and town wall. At some point, probably at an early period in the development of the town defences, it was decided to construct a new gate, or refortify an existing entrance, at this location. The 1.5m thick wall suggests the new building was a substantial structure such as a gatehouse or gatebuilding. The evidence of buttressing indicates that the structure underwent repair or was enlarged sometime during its period of usage.

Finds from the excavation were disappointing in that no artefacts other than a couple of pieces of badly-corroded iron were recovered from the excavated deposits. The moderate quantities of animal bone and oyster shell recovered from deposits outside the Loro Gate wall are probably the result of dumping in the medieval moat.

Dominic Delany & Associates, Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway