2020:240 - Knappagh Beg, O’Connell Street, Sligo, Sligo

Archaeological monitoring of the street refurbishment/rehabilitation works on O’Connell Street, Sligo, was undertaken intermittently between April 2019 and July 2020. The development is within the zone of archaeological potential of SL014-065--- Historic Town. All ground works were excavated under archaeological supervision. The street was closed to vehicular traffic from 30 September 2019 until works were completed in July 2020. The concrete footpaths and carriageway surface were excavated using a mechanical excavator equipped with a graded bucket. Monitoring of works revealed that the street has been subjected to numerous excavations over recent decades, the most recent and largest being the main drainage upgrade scheme in 2016.
The stratigraphy exposed road surface material overlying deposited backfill and modern services, which in turn overlay brownish-grey to blackish-grey clay subsoil with small stones over the course of the street. All footpath resurfacing was carried out after the initial ground works were completed.
In the main, the majority of features exposed were modern services and backfill material with occasional earlier drainage and water feed pipes, now defunct. Some heavily fragmented and scattered shells were noted throughout the site; no artefacts were recovered.
No deposits, artefacts and features of archaeological significance were noted at O’Connell Street, except for the exposure of a rough course of stone building material at the southern end of the street at Werhly’s Jewelers, and a repurposed flagstone used to cover a modern drainpipe from Bridgefoot House Restaurant.

Cooldrumman Upper, Carney, Co. Sligo