2024:382 - O'Hehir's Bakery, the Diamond, Donegal town, Donegal

The development required the demolition and removal of buildings to the rear of the street-front building on the Diamond, Donegal Town and the construction of a new building on the same footprint (Phase 1). Upon demolition of the existing structure, ground reduction works below the current floor level was undertaken by a mechanical excavator, under the archaeological supervision of the licensee. The concrete finished floors and sub-floors were broken up and removed and the underlying overburden, consisting mostly of construction rubble, with some mixed garden soil, was reduced in ground level by about 0.2m, down to the formation level. The site was covered over with stone hardcore, measuring approximately 0.4m in depth. Subsequently, a series of seven foundation trenches, an ESB cable trench and a sewer trench were excavated through the stone hardcore and underlying levels. The natural subsoil was only encountered in foundation trench 1 immediately to the rear (southeast) of the existing street-front building.
The archaeological monitoring was undertaken over the course of two days, on 15 July and 16 August 2024.

No archaeological features or deposits were identified. However, a small sherd of possible late medieval pottery was found amongst 19th- and 20th-century material to the rear of the street-front building.