2022:816 - 15 Market Street, Galway, Galway

Archaeological monitoring of development excavations was carried out at 15 Market Street, Galway, on various dates between January and September 2022. The work followed on from previous testing and monitoring at this site in 2021 (2021:769). A stone floor composed of large limestone slabs, including a threshold stone, was uncovered beneath the existing reinforced concrete slab floor during the excavation of a 1.5m² foundation pad within the former Connacht Tribune building in January 2022. The stone floor was set in a compact sand and gravel lime mortar with inclusions of small and medium angular stones and pieces of brick and slate. Beneath the floor there was 0.4m of silty sand, gravel and stone fill over natural sand deposits.

Service trenches were opened within the site access areas on the east and west sides of the Connacht Tribune building in May, August and September 2022. The excavations revealed 0.8-1m of rubble fill over natural sand deposits, boulders and bedrock. Three late/post-medieval architectural stones were found within the rubble fill on the west side of the building.

The northwest-southeast dividing wall within the extension to the Connacht Tribune building was identified, during the course of development works, as a possible late/post-medieval wall. The wall was completely covered with a thick cement plaster but permitted new openings and subsequent selective stripping of plaster revealed a 0.8m thick wall built of rubble limestone. The east face of this wall incorporates a possible chimney breast which survives to first floor level. The rear wall of the former Connacht Tribune office building, which is largely of concrete construction, was also revealed to contain fragments of a late/post-medieval wall.

Dominic Delany & Associates