County: Donegal Site name: Townparks, Ballyshannon
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DG107-053----Historic Town Licence number: 19E0001
Author: Tamlyn McHugh/Moore Group
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 587879m, N 861623m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.502893, -8.187136
Monitoring for Donegal Countywide Watermains Rehabilitation in Ballyshannon town in the townland of Townparks took place at various dates between August and October 2019. The works monitored consisted of a 1.21km length of linear trench to accommodate a new watermains pipe mechanically excavated into existing roads and pavement within the zone of archaeological notifciation for Historic Town DG107-053----. Work began at the northern area of the town at Cluain Barrow housing estate. The pipeline extended north-east into the housing estate; only the north-west end of the pipeline was within the Historic Town. This area was summarily monitored on 15 August 2019 and revealed no archaeological material. The trench was orientated east-west and was excavated into the existing concrete path. The trench measured 0.6m wide by 2m deep. The material consisted of concrete surface, hardcore stone and gravel fill to a depth of c. 1.1m. No archaeological material was noted in this monitoring area.
The trench on the west side of Erne Street was mechanically excavated on 29 October for its full length of 112m through existing footpaths and subterranean services. It was approximately 0.6m wide (where existing service pipes allowed) and between 0.8m and 1m deep. The stratigraphy changed slightly with the inclusion of a thin dark brown/black layer between the rubble fill of the foundations and the natural. Depth of this layer ranged slightly from 0.04m to 0.06m.
The final 35m of the trench on the upper west side had similar stratigraphy with additions in the 20th-century foundation fill of broken tableware (19th-century blackware), a clay pipe stem, a portion of an oyster shell and a fragment of butchered animal bone. Crossing the road to the north it was found that beneath the tarmacadam and deep hardcore layers the majority of the road had suffered numerous modern cuts and fills ranging from the in situ 19th-century gas and sewer supply to the modern sewer, electricity, telecoms and water services. No archaeological material or feature was noted in this monitoring area.
Cooldrumman Upper, Carney, Co. Sligo
