2023:183 - Saint Johnstown, Church Street, Main Street, Unnamed Road, Derry Road (R236), Railway Road, Dundee, Donegal

The archaeological monitoring of exploratory groundworks was undertaken for Uisce Éireann’s Water Network Programme, St Johnstown Cast Iron located in the townlands of Altaskin, Dundee and Saint Johnstown in Saint Johnstown, Co. Donegal.
The monitoring followed a high-level Cultural Heritage Constraints Assessment undertaken for the scheme by Archaeological Management Solutions (AMS) in March 2022 and updated in May 2022 due to the scheme extension.
The monitoring was carried on 16 August 2022, and intermittently between 19 September–9 December 2022 and on 1 and 2 February 2023 within the Zone of Notification for the historic town (DG063-003) of Saint Johnstown, which also encompasses two Recorded Monuments, a church (DG063-003001) and graveyard (DG063-003002; NIAH 40830008) and as a precaution in the vicinity of a river and a well depicted on the 25-inch Ordnance Survey map (1905) along Church Street, Main Street, Unnamed Road, Derry Road (R236) and Railway Road in Saint Johnstown.

Church Street
Five trial holes (TH1–TH5), five sections of a continuous open-cut trench (T1–T5) to facilitate the new pipeline, measuring in total 129m in length and 0.5–1.0m wide and 1–1.8m deep, and six trenches (T6–T11) conjoined with the main pipeline to facilitate house connections were excavated along the length of the street. A portion of the pipeline measuring 27m was installed via the directional drilling method.
The potential archaeological deposits were revealed in TH3 and continuing in T3 and T11 in the middle portion of the street, adjacent to one of the houses. Underlying a 0.2m deep modern street surface, was a 0.1–0.3m deep deposit of a light grey gravelly sandy silt with frequent stone and moderate red brick fragments measuring 2.6m (west-north-west/east-south-east) by 1.9m (north-east/south-west). A sherd of eighteenth to nineteenth-century black glazed red earthenware was recovered from this deposit in T11. At a depth of 0.2–0.4m below ground level (BGL) a mid-grey sandy silt deposit with inclusions of moderate charcoal flecks, gravel, small stone and fragments of red brick was encountered. It measured 2.6m (west-north-west/east-south-east) by 2.2m (north-east/south-west) by 0.1m in depth and overlaid a 0.6m deep layer of subsoil consisting of a mid-greyish-orange and a mid-yellowish-grey stony sandy silt.
No potential archaeological objects, features, deposits or human bone were noted in the vicinity of the church (DG063-003001) and graveyard (DG063-003002; NIAH 40830008).

Main Street
A continuous open-cut trench (T1) measuring 120m x 0.7m x 1.2m and six exploratory trenches (T2–T7) conjoined with the main pipeline were excavated along Main Street. The stratigraphy in the western portion of T1 comprised a 0.2m deep modern street surface, overlying a light orange silty clay subsoil and mid-yellowish-grey stony sandy silt subsoil in the western and middle sections of the trench.
A pit was found in T1 and T5 (house connection) opposite Parochial House. It was circular or oval in plan, measuring 1.4m (east-west) x 1.3m x 0.3m deep, and had steep sides and a rounded base. The pit was filled with mottled yellowish, greyish-brown clay with occasional inclusions of pebbles and two sherds of late eighteenth- to nineteenth-century green glass wine bottle.
In the eastern end of T1, to the east of the Parochial House’s gate, underlying the modern street surface was built-up ground comprising a 0.2m deep deposit of mid-greyish-orange sandy silt with frequent inclusions of angular stones and a 0.25m deep deposit of light grey sandy silt with frequent inclusions of angular stones, overlying subsoil.
In the eastern end of T1, underlying the built-up ground deposits, a patch of light orange oxidised subsoil measuring 0.8m (east-west) x 0.2m x 0.2m in depth, was encountered at a depth of 0.6m BGL. Potentially it was the evidence of burning in situ.
A modern stone culvert, measuring 1m (east-west) by 0.8m, comprising large capstones, was revealed a depth of 0.6m BGL along the southern street end.

Unnamed Road
A pipeline was installed via the directional drilling method. The eighteenth- and nineteenth-century built-up ground was revealed in an open-cut trench (T1) along the bridge (NIAH 408300033) built c.1710 and crossing the unnamed river to the north of the town. Natural subsoil underlying the modern street surface was revealed in other trenches (T2–T6) but no archaeological objects, features or deposits were noted in these trenches.

Derry Road (R236)
A pipeline was installed via the directional drilling method. The eastern side of the original bridge wall was revealed in an open-cut trench (T1) along the bridge at Derry Road. The bridge is depicted on the 25-inch OS map (1905) and was possibly built contemporarily to the railway bridge (NIAH 40830010) built c.1880. The late nineteenth-century built-up ground was identified in an open-cut trench (T3) excavated along Derry Road, between the bridge and the junction with Main Street and Railway Road. Natural subsoil underlying the modern street surface was revealed in other trenches (T4–T7) excavated towards the southwest of the junction. No archaeological objects, features or deposits were noted in any trenches.

Railway Road
A pipeline was installed via the directional drilling method. In T1–T3 excavated along Railway Road post-medieval or late nineteenth-century built-up ground was noted overlying the natural subsoil. No archaeological objects, features or deposits were revealed in these trenches

Fahy’s Road, Kilrush, Co. Clare