County: Westmeath Site name: Athlone
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WM029-042004 Licence number: 17E0516 (Ministerial Consent No. C000857)
Author: Ed Danaher
Site type: Possible quay walls and foundations of sixteenth-century bridge, post-medieval structures
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 603857m, N 741439m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.423050, -7.941971
Monitoring took place of geotechnical investigation bore holes within Flood Cell 1 and Flood Cell 3, and subsequent archaeological testing was undertaken within Flood Cell 3 and Flood Cell 4, of the Athlone Flood Alleviation Scheme, Athlone, Co. Westmeath. The monitoring and testing was conducted by AMS Ltd on behalf of RPS and their client Westmeath County Council and the Office of Public Works.
Monitoring of four bole holes, one in Flood Cell 1 (113) and three in Flood Cell 3 (301-304), was undertaken in October and November 2017. The bore holes ranged in width from 0.3m to 1m and ranged in depth from 0.8m to 1.4m. Nothing of archaeological significance was encountered.
Testing was undertaken in Flood Cell 3 and Flood Cell 4 in April 2018. A total of seven trenches were excavated along the line of the proposed flood wall in Flood Cell 3. The trenches were positioned, where possible, immediately along the line of the proposed flood wall. However, Trenches 302, 306 and 307 had to be repositioned slightly due to the presence of walls and railings along the quay.
The remains of a possible earlier quay wall (Wall 3) were encountered in Trench 303. This was identified at 1m below the present ground level (PGL). The south-western face of this wall was identified in this trench and a sondage was excavated into material abutting the wall. This sondage revealed a series of clay deposits and finds of possible seventeenth-century date. Another wall (Wall 4) was encountered at c.1.2m below PGL in Trench 304. This occupied the entire base of the excavated trench and the trench was not excavated below this level. This may also be an earlier quay wall but it is also at the location of the south-western end of the sixteenth-century bridge (WM029-042004) and it is possible that this represents remnants of the foundations of that bridge. Another wall (Wall 5) in Trench 306, located at c.1.9m below PGL, may again represent an earlier quay wall.
In addition to these, a post-medieval culvert and eighteenth-/nineteenth-century walls were recorded in Trench 301. These walls (Walls 1 and 2) are likely to be remains of structures demolished between 1840 and 1849 for the Shannon Navigation works. Similar remains were identified in the 10E0186 excavations (Fitzpatrick 2017, Trench 11.7 and 11.8) undertaken to the north-west of Trench 306, which are in line with the proposed flood wall. With the exception of the walls detailed above, the remainder of the trenches were characterised by deposits of rubble and ‘fill’ material.
A total of four trenches (Trenches 401, 402, 408 and 409) were excavated within the footprint of the proposed flood defence embankments in Flood Cell 4. Nothing of archaeological significance was discovered during testing in Flood Cell 4. The only features identified were two post-medieval ditches which are in line with field boundaries as depicted on c.1900 mapping for the area. The area tested is named on this mapping as “Brick Island” which is suggestive of brick-making activity in this area; however, there was no indication or evidence for brick-making activity in the testing.
Reference
Fitzpatrick, M. 2017. Report on Test Excavations No. 10E0186 extension: Athlone Sewerage Scheme, Athlone, Co. Westmeath. Unpublished report held in the NMS archives. Arch Consultancy.
Unit 1 Hector Street Mills, Kilrush, Co. Clare
