2024:552 - Baunmore, Athenry, Galway

The test excavation of a site in advance of its development at Baunmore townland, Athenry, Co. Galway, was carried out over six days between 14 October and 6 November 2024.  The testing was necessary due to the size of the site, the scale of the proposed development and its location adjacent to the town wall and partly within the constraint for the historic town of Athenry (RMP No. GA084-001).

The proposed development site was the former location of a co-op on the outskirts of Athenry. The site was relatively level with most of its surface area stoned.  It contained three modern buildings.

The testing consisted of the excavation of nineteen trenches, located to best cover the area of the proposed development site that was accessible. The trenches measured 30.2m, 20.1m, 18.4m, 65m, 9.6m, 25m, 24.7m, 15.2m, 60.2m, 21.7m, 35m, 30.9m, 20m, 60.2m, 31m, 37m, 15.6m, 40.3m and 48m long respectively; 1.9-2.9m wide and 0.1-2.05m deep. The spoil from each of the trenches was inspected for the presence of artefacts.

The pre-development testing in fourteen of the nineteen test trenches revealed modern surfaces above modern fills, above topsoil and natural subsoils.  The stratigraphy in the five remaining trenches, which were excavated in an undeveloped area in the south-west of the site, consisted of topsoil, above one small area of modern fill in one of the trenches, and natural subsoils.  A substantial number of modern services were uncovered during the testing, all of which were associated with the former business premises located here. Only modern artefacts were recovered, from the topsoil and the spoil.

Testing revealed evidence of activity associated with the extant 20th-century buildings on the site and nothing of archaeological significance.