County: Galway Site name: Claregalway
Sites and Monuments Record No.: GA070-012001-02 & GA070-109 Licence number: C0437 (Registration number E4248)
Author: Ed Danaher
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 537200m, N 733244m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.345690, -8.943128
Archaeological monitoring of groundworks associated with the Claregalway Flood Relief Scheme, Claregalway, Co. Galway, was conducted over a five-week period between June and July 2018. The Scheme is designed to relieve the potential for flooding along parts of the Clare River and involved realigning the existing southern riverbank west of Claregalway Bridge for a distance of c.100–130m. This part of the riverbank is located close to a medieval church (GA070-012001) and graveyard (GA070-012002), and lies within the buffer zone for the medieval settlement of Claregalway (RMP GA070-109). An Archaeological Impact Assessment and a Supplementary Visual and Architectural Impact Assessment for the Scheme were previously prepared by Archaeological Management Solutions (Coldrick & Danaher 2018; Ó Maoldúin 2018).
No features or deposits of archaeological or potential archaeological significance were encountered during the monitoring. Instead, earlier land reclamation and food relief works is indicated in many of the excavated areas by a deep stratigraphy of redeposited soils and gravels interspersed with boulders of varying size. The excavated material was metal detected (licence 17R0247), but nothing of archaeological interest was identified. The only finds comprised a portion of a human mandible and a single human tooth, both of which were found in disturbed top-soil close to the river edge. A previously unrecorded architectural fragment – a carved medieval window fragment with floral motif – was also identified adjacent to the northern wall of the church (GA070-012001).
References:
Coldrick, B. & Danaher, E. 2018. Report of an Archaeological Impact Assessment of the Proposed Re-alignment of the Downstream Riverbank, Claregalway Flood Relief Scheme, Claregalway, Co. Galway. Unpublished report prepared by AMS Ltd for the Office of Public Works and Galway County Council.
Ó Maoldúin, R. 2018. Supplementary Visual and Architectural Impact Assessment on the Setting and Features of Graveyard and Church Site GA070-012, Claregalway Flood Relief Scheme. Unpublished report prepared by AMS Ltd for the Office of Public Works and Galway County Council.
Unit 1 Hector Street Mills, Kilrush, Co. Clare
