County: Galway Site name: Creagh, Townparks, Ballinasloe
Sites and Monuments Record No.: GA088-008----, GA088-008001-, GA088-008002-, GA088-006----, GA088-006001- Licence number: 22E0010
Author: Zbigniew Malek, Archaeological Management Solutions
Site type: Monitoring
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 586485m, N 731160m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.330516, -8.202893
Archaeological monitoring of groundworks was undertaken for Creagh Junction towards Taughmaconnel Road Water Mains Scheme located along the road carriageway (R357) on the eastern outskirts of Ballinasloe in Co. Galway. The monitoring was carried out on 27 and 28 January 2022 and between 10–23 May 2022 on four trial holes (TH 1–TH 4) and two sections of an open-cut exploratory trench (Trench 1 and Trench 2) located at the northern and the southern ends of the scheme.
Trench 1 and TH 3 and TH 4 were situated within, and 20m either side of the Zone of Notification (ZoN) surrounding a graveyard, the site of a church/’mass house’, and a church (GA088-008----, GA088-008001- and GA088-008002-, respectively). In Trench 1, opposite a former Creagh School building, two cobbled road surfaces were revealed possibly dating to the nineteenth century (Road Surface 4) and to the first half of the twentieth century (Road Surface 3), predating the two modern tarmac road surfaces (Road Surfaces 1 and 2). The cobbled Road Surface 3 was revealed at a depth of 0.8m below ground level (BGL) and comprised medium-sized sub-angular stones and pebbles. It overlaid a 0.1m deep redeposit material consisting of mid-greyish yellow sandy silt. The cobbled Road Surface 4 was revealed at 0.95m BGL and comprised medium-sized sub-angular and sub-rounded stones and pebbles. The latter was placed on a layer of the natural subsoil which consisted of mid-grey gravelly silty sand.
Trench 2 and TH 1 and TH 2 were situated within, and 20m either side of the ZoN surrounding Creagh Church and graveyard (GA088-006---- and GA088-006001-, respectively). In addition, Trench 2 was located immediately west of a landscaped area which previously served as a graveyard associated with the Connaught District Lunatic Asylum (RPS No. 166) and with St Brigid’s Hospital. In Trench 2 the entire ground had been previously disturbed and the natural subsoil was not encountered. In TH 1 and TH 2, under the existing pathway and topsoil, there was a buried modern tarmac road surface noted which existed until the early twenty-first century.
No potential archaeological objects, features, deposits or human bones were noted during the archaeological monitoring.
Fahy’s Road, Kilrush, Co. Clare
