2019:318 - Abbey Street, Friarsquarter West, Ballinrobe, Mayo

Monitoring of a development, located on the north-west side of Abbey Street in Ballinrobe, County Mayo, was carried out between 16 and 23 April 2019. The monitoring was recommended in an impact assessment carried out by the licence holder in 2017, due to the location of the development site within the constraint for the town of Ballinrobe (MA118-022) and its proximity to a medieval abbey (MA118-022002).
The site contained a two-storey dwelling of late 19th/early 20th-century date, associated lawns and an overgrown garden which contained a number of modern outhouses. The groundworks involved in the development were those necessary for a car park, a new boundary wall along the south-east side of the site and an entrance along the same boundary. The demolition of the south-eastern boundary wall was also monitored.
The wall was constructed of mortared rubble, capped with concrete and partly overgrown with ivy. A short section of the adjacent southern boundary wall was also removed. It was of the same construction but was capped with cut and dressed limestone blocks. A number of cut and dressed blocks were recovered during the monitoring of the demolition. There were re-used in the construction of the new wall.
Levels were reduced by 0.3-0.65m for the car park, over an area measuring 28m north-east/south-west by 12.5m, in what was the overgrown garden. The stratigraphy revealed was topsoil above natural subsoil with a transitional layer in between. Also found within the garden was a concrete path, a land drain, rubble, fill and a concrete floor within one of the outhouses. These were modern features associated with the dwelling.
None of the modern finds recovered were retained. The monitoring revealed evidence of 19th/20th-century activity at the site. Nothing of archaeological significance was in evidence.

4 Lecka Grove, Castlebar Road, Ballinrobe, County Mayo