2019:155 - Wesleyan Street, Donegal, Donegal

Monitoring was carried out on Wesleyan Street, St Johnstown, Co. Donegal as part of the upgrade of a water line in the town. The works took place in the vicinity of DG037 – 007003 (Historic Town).
Initial works involved the opening of an east–west orientated exploratory trench at the junction of Main Street and Wesleyan Street in order to locate and replace an existing water service main. This trench measured 15m in overall length, 1.4m in depth and averaged 1.6m in width. Beneath the street surface, the stratigraphic sequence to the northern side of the trench consisted of the material used to backfill the trench for the existing water main. To the southern side of the trench successive deposits of asphalt and aggregate used to construct the street surface were evident in the section face to a depth of approximately 1m. Beneath these deposits was a deposit of light brown clayey sand with occasional inclusions of water-rolled pebbles and shell. No potential archaeological features or deposits were noted in this trench.
Trench excavation along Wesleyan Street ran from south to north from the junction with Main Street to the junction with Pound Street. The receiving trench ran along the centre of the carriageway and measured 1.2m in depth and 0.7m in width. The deposits of asphalt and aggregate used to construct the present road averaged 0.3m in depth. For approximately 65m north from the junction with Main Street, a deposit of blackish, dark grey silty clay with occasional inclusions of shell was noted beneath the road construction deposits. This deposit averaged 0.25m in depth, having a maximum depth of 0.45m at the southern end of the receiving trench and subsequently becoming shallower as excavation proceeded northwards. It is considered that this deposit was not of archaeological significance. Beneath both the road construction layers and the aforementioned underlying blackish, dark grey silty clay deposit, light brown sandy clay subsoil with occasional inclusions of small water-rolled stone was evident along the entire length of the receiving trench.
At the junction of Wesleyan Street and Pound Street, a cutting measuring approximately 4.5m by 3m was opened to connect the new water main to the existing services. Disturbance associated with these services extended to the base of the cutting.
No potential archaeological features, finds or deposits were noted during the course of monitoring of the works. As a result, no further archaeological mitigation is proposed for this development.

Unit 1, Hector Street Mills, Kilrush, Co. Clare