County: Donegal Site name: Oldtown
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DG053-042004 Licence number: 22E0451
Author: Patrick Walsh
Site type: Historic bridge
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 616634m, N 910863m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.945174, -7.740377
Archaeological monitoring of groundworks was undertaken for Uisce Éireann’s Water Network Programme in Ros Suilighe, Oldtown, Letterkenny Town, Co. Donegal within an area of archaeological potential, and Zone of Notification (ZoN) for Oldtown Bridge (DG053- 042004). The installation methodology for the scheme was both via directional drilling and open-cut trenching.
The excavation of two trenches was carried out on 18 August 2022 under continuous archaeological supervision, to identify any subsurface archaeological objects, features or deposits that may have been present within the area of archaeological potential. A total of two trenches were excavated during groundworks to facilitate for the directional drilling process for the Ros Suilighe, Oldtown scheme within the ZoN for the Oldtown Bridge. Trench 1 was located 38m to the south of Oldtown Bridge, measured 2m long, 0.7m wide and 1m deep. The stratigraphic sequence in the trench comprised of a tar and maintenance layer over a 0.25m deep rocky fill used to build up the road surface. This covered a relatively compacted mid-brown to orange silty clay 0.55m deep. Trench 2 was located close to the existing road verge to the south of Oldtown Bridge. It measured 4m long, 0.7m wide and 0.8m deep. The stratigraphic sequence in the trench comprised a tar surface sealing a mixed greyish-orange stony silty clay 0.55m deep, which was directly overlying an infilled maintenance material (this section of the road was dug previously). To the north of the trench, there was a solid piece of concrete which was part of a modern manhole.
No archaeological objects, features or deposits were noted during the archaeological monitoring.
AMS Fahy's Road, KIlrush, Co Clare
