County: Donegal Site name: Church Lane, Letterkenny
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DG053-042 and DG053-043001 and DG053-043002 Licence number: 22E0574
Author: Patrick Walsh, Archaeological Management Solutions
Site type: Urban
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 616783m, N 911479m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.950704, -7.738015
Archaeological monitoring of groundworks was undertaken for Uisce Éireann Water Network Programme, at Church Lane, Letterkenny in Co. Donegal. The monitoring was carried out on 13 and 14 June and intermittently between 20 September–20 October 2022 on three trial holes (TH 1–TH 3), a continuous open-cut trench (Trench 1), excavated to facilitate a new water mains, and nine house connection trenches. The works were located within the Zone of Notification for the historic town of Letterkenny (DG053-042), in immediate proximity to the Conwal Church graveyard (DG053-043002) associated with the church (DG053-043001). Church Lane is located within the Ecclesiastical Quarter designated as an Architectural Conservation Area.
TH 1 was located in close proximity to a gate leading to the Conwal Parish Church graveyard (DG053-043002; NIAH 40501199). It measured 5m long, 0.6m wide and 1m deep. At a depth of 0.7m below ground level, a large capstone was revealed overlying a modern storm pipeline. Similar cap stones were found in this area also in Trench 1.
TH 3 was located opposite 34 Upper Main Street, adjacent to 1 Church Lane. It measured 5.2m long, 0.5m wide and 1.2m deep. In the southern portion of TH 3, located 2.7m to the south of the building (34 Upper Main Street), underlying ESB ducts was a stone wall or foundation revealed at a depth of 0.5–0.6m below ground level. It was running along the lane and measured 0.5m long (west-north-west/east-south-east) by 0.4m wide by 0.4m deep and it was mortared with a white lime mixed with small sub-angular pebbles.
Trench 1 was located along the length of the lane between existing services (sewer pipeline and electric ducts) and measured approximately 136m long, 0.6–1m wide and 1.2m deep. In the eastern portion of Trench 1, underlying the modern lane surface was a 15m long and 0.2–0.3m deep layer of mottled mid-yellowish and orange brown sandy silt with frequent inclusions of small to large angular and sub-angular stones. One sherd of post-medieval/modern black glazed red earthenware, one sherd of modern pearlware, one post-medieval glass bottle shard and one fragment of a modern tobacco clay pipe stem were recovered from this layer. It was overlying a shale stone-type bedrock at 0.2–0.3m.
No potential archaeological objects, features, deposits or human bones were noted during the archaeological monitoring.
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