County: Galway Site name: 15 Market Street, Galway
Sites and Monuments Record No.: GA094-100 Licence number: 18E0474
Author: Richard Crumlish
Site type: Urban
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 529714m, N 725344m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.273764, -9.053783
The National Monuments Service requested an assessment of groundworks carried out in the 'Printworks' building to the rear of the Connacht Tribune offices at 15 Market Street in Galway City. The assessment was necessary following the excavation of a pit during June 2018 which was then filled up as part of an installation which formed part of an exhibition which was open to the public for the duration of the Galway International Arts Festival in July 2018. It was agreed that once the installation was removed an archaeologist would assess the pit and the material removed from it.
The site is located within the constraint for Galway City (GA094-100) and within the area of the medieval town with the line of the town wall located along the north-west end of the site. Four armorial plaques (GA094-140), which are thought to date to the 16th century, are located in a yard to the south-west of the Connacht Tribune building.
The pit which was excavated measured 3.4m north-east/south-west by 2.6m and 0.45-1.2m deep. Following the removal of the installation the loose material within the pit was inspected. It consisted of loose soil, rocks and concrete which contained modern artefacts.
Two spoil heaps of material removed from the pit were also inspected. They consisted of loose soil and rocks which contained red and yellow brick fragments and one architectural fragment, a large window sill of 19th-century date.
Below the concrete on the surface of the sides of the pit was rubble fill which contained modern artefacts. Below the rubble fill at the base of the pit was a deposit of dark brown/black friable silt loam which contained charcoal, animal bone fragments, red brick fragments and sea-shells. The deposit did not appear to have been excavated as part of the works. This deposit is found frequently on excavations across Galway City and is usually dated to the post-medieval period.
No medieval deposits, features or artefacts were in evidence at the site and it appeared that the limited excavation here did not impact on any archaeological material.
4 Lecka Grove, Castlebar Road, Ballinrobe, County Mayo
