2024:835 - Stanhope Street, Ballinakill, Laois

A programme of Archaeological Testing was undertaken at Stanhope Street, Ballinakill, Co. Laois where it is intended to construct a replacement residential development

The site is located within the RMP Zone established with respect to the extent of the Historic Town of Ballinakill – SMR No: LA030-018 – which is subject to statutory protection in the Record of Monuments and Places (RMP). Notification of the works was submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, as required under Section 12(3) of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994.  The response from The National Monuments Service (Ref: NM06990), required that the development be subject to an Archaeological Assessment/Appraisal, including a programme of Archaeological Testing.

Ballinakill is a fine example of a seventeenth-century market town; it is particularly important as it is one of only four towns established in the midlands during the seventeenth century, the others being Banagher, Kilbeggan and Portarlington.  The present settlement at Ballinakill is arranged around a rectangular square on which three streets converge. Church Street lies to the north, Bride Street to the west and Stanhope Street to the south. This configuration is, however, the result of eighteenth-century activity. The seventeenth-century borough was laid out along the long axis formed by Graveyard and Stanhope Streets, with Chapel Lane and Castle Street running perpendicular to the east. There is a well-defined burgage plot pattern on the east side of Stanhope Street and the Square, including that of the subject site, but elsewhere it is not so apparent. Bradley (1999, 273) notes that “there are some stone built houses and sheds on the street front of these plots but they do not have any dateable features. Part of their fabric may be of seventeenth-century date but it is impossible to be certain”.

There are no previously recorded archaeological monuments located within the subject site or immediate environs; however, the boundaries do reflect the extent of a seventeenth-century burgage plot; no features of archaeological potential were noted by cartographic, aerial photographic or satellite imagery research. No surface features/traces of archaeological potential were noted by the surface reconnaissance survey; likewise, no dressed stone of possible seventeenth-century or earlier origin was noted by inspections of the exposed faces of the northern and southern boundary walls, together with inspections of the exposed wall faces of the former house, outbuildings and rear cross-wall.

It is noted that the surface of Stanhope Street slopes down noticeably from north to south; therefore the adjacent properties are formed by slightly stepped terraces, fashioned to create relatively level sites to the rear. Consequently, the surface of the lands of the adjacent site to the north is higher than that of the subject site, while that to the immediate south is lower.

A total of 6 test trenches, of varying lengths and orientations, were excavated. The locations of the trenches were largely based on the existing topographical nature of the site, the locations of former buildings and the development layout, as proposed.  No subsurface features of archaeological interest/potential were encountered in any of the test trenches and no artefacts of interest were recovered during the excavations or subsequent raking-over of the spoil.

Reference:

Bradley, J, Halpin, A & King, H.A. 1986. Urban Archaeological Survey – Co. Laois. Unpublished Report – Office of Public Works.