2025:436 - Townparks, Galway

Archaeological monitoring of the excavations associated with the development at Augustine Hill, Townparks, Station Road, Galway commenced on 24 May and ended on 8 May 2025. The excavations were associated with enabling works for the development and comprised of the excavation of a temporary access road from Lough Atalia, a trench for electricity and site investigations.

Temporary Access Road

Archaeological monitoring of the excavations for the temporary access road, revealed a large cut for the construction of the reinforced steel concrete wall along Lough Atalia road and redeposited natural for the most part. The remains of a wall foundation were revealed in the northern end of the access road. This wall foundation appears to be associated with the Bastioned fort (GA094-099002-) built on the site of the Augustinian friary (GA094-099003-). Depicted on the Phillips 1685 map as a bastion earthwork, by the mid-18^th century the fort is described as ‘quite demolished…entrenchments and ditch are very distinct’ 1787 (Beaufort 1, 76).  A plan of Galway by Blake dating to c. 1755, shows the fort drawn in pencil. It is possible that the wall foundations are part of the foundations of the fort and/or are part of the bastions at each corner. A site inspection by Dr. Jim Higgins, Heritage Officer with Galway City Council, identified the fabric of the foundation wall as having a potential 16^th/17^th-century date.

A sondage excavated through the fill recorded an animal bone at the base of the cut. Dr. Emily Murray, zooarchaeologist, identified the bone as a rib bone from a medium-sized mammal, possibly sheep or dog. This was submitted for radiocarbon dating and yielded a result of 1492-1641 cal. AD at 95.4% probability (UBA-58175; 323± 23 BP) and median probability of 1562.  Based on the results of the radiocarbon dating from the base of the cut and the visual examination of the stoney fill, this feature dates to the late 16^th century.

Site Investigations

The site investigations were located at various locations, consisting of 7 trial pits measuring 1.5m in width, up to 3m in length and excavated for a maximum depth of 3m. The trial pits were located in the existing carpark and at the lower level along the cobbled surface adjacent to the stables. Archaeological monitoring of the trial pits in the area of the carpark revealed the tarmac and 804 overlying disturbed fills with services overlying the natural. In B2TP1 excavation of the tarmac and fill overlay a deposit of redeposited natural (depth 0.45m) which came down onto building rubble (brick, mortar and stone) in the east of the trench and overlay a surface of angular stones. Excavation of the surface revealed the natural clay. The redeposited clay may be associated with the construction of Ceannt Station in the 1850s and overlay building rubble and earlier surface. In B2TP3 excavation of the a stoney limestone fill (depth of 2.5m) would appear to be associated with the raising of the ground in this area as depicted on the historic OSi 25-inch map. Substantial changes were made to the ground levels between the historic OSi 1^st edition map (1839) and the OSi 25-inch map (1900) with the raising of the ground to the east and south of the stables. The building rubble was recorded at a depth of c.3.6m in B2TP3 and represents earlier activity predating the construction of the railway.

Archaeological monitoring of the excavation of the trial pits revealed the cobbles overlying the natural ground; no features and or finds of archaeological significance were encountered during the course of the monitoring. The cobbled surface appears to date to two separate phases with a more modern cobble block in the south of the area.