County: Galway Site name: Barrack Street, Loughrea
Sites and Monuments Record No.: GA015-150 Licence number: 20E0360
Author: Dominic Delany
Site type: Barracks, possible castle
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 561794m, N 716531m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.197845, -8.571796
Archaeological monitoring of groundworks for a proposed development took place at Barrack Street, Loughrea, Co. Galway between 2 and 8 July 2020. The development comprises the demolition of two detached dwellings and the construction of five social housing units. The site is located on the north side of Barrack Street, close to the junction with Castle Street, and lies within the area of archaeological constraint for GA105-150 (Historic town). A Clanrickard Estate Map from 1791 shows the development site in the east extent of a large undeveloped plot known as the ‘castle garden’ (Barrack Street is shown to terminate at the junction with Castle Street, immediately east of the development site). By the time of the first edition ordnance survey map, 1838-9, Barrack Street has been extended to the west and the development site now forms part of the south extent of a Constabulary Barrack, which consists of a range of buildings around an open courtyard. The development site's west boundary wall incorporates the east wall of a two-storey building which formed part of the west range of the early 19th-century barrack.
Monitoring of excavations for the proposed development revealed extensive disturbance across the south part of the site, primarily due to the reinforced concrete foundations of the two demolished dwellings. However wall foundations pertaining to the south range of barrack buildings were uncovered at the limits of excavation, particularly in the south-east of the site where a 13.5m length of wall-face was exposed. Remnants of a cobbled surface, most likely associated with the barrack courtyard, were uncovered in the north of the site. The surface overlay yellow/brown clay subsoil which was exposed across the most of the site.
The proposed housing will not impact on archaeology but the services connections will directly impact on a possible castle wall which was discovered beneath the footpath directly outside the development site in 2009 (2009:411). The possible castle wall was preserved in situ at that time. It was recommended that the services connections for the proposed development be re-designed in order to avoid impact on the wall thereby ensuring its continued preservation in situ.
Dominic Delany & Associates, Creganna, Oranmore, Co. Galway
