Banagher — Curraghavarna AND Portavrolla,kylebeg OR Banagher

The possession of the mid 16th century native Irish settlement of Banagher or Beannchor, strategically positioned on the River Shannon, was hotly contested between the Mac Coghlans, the O'Maddens and the O'Carrolls. In 1540 Felim mac Coghlan was slain by the O'Maddens following attendance at Mass, presumably in the church of Beannchor (OF021-003001-) and in 1544 Teige Caech O'Carroll in a bid to claim the settlement re-erected a castle there (AFM AD 1455, AD 1489). The settlement appears to have continued and flourished into the opening years of the 17th century as in 1610 Sir John Mac Coghlan, Chief of Delvin Mac Coghlan was granted a market. By the 1620s plans were well underway to create a plantation town at Banagher which commenced with the construction of Fort Falkland (OF021-003007-) by Sir Arthur Blundell in 1624. By 1628 it had received a charter of incorporation which established it as a borough town with rights to a weekly market and two annual fairs. A map of the town c. 1630 shows that it was defended on three sides by a linear earthwork (OF021-003008-) with a projecting bulwark towards the NE corner. The 17th century street plan was linear, the main street running in a NE-SW direction down to the River Shannon, much the same as it is today. Fort Falkland stood at the NW end of the town overlooking the river, a church (OF021-003001-) lay on the W side of the street and a number of burgage plots, the pattern of which is still distinguishable in the modern town, extended back from both sides of the street. Documentary sources with regard to the plantation settlement refer to just one house in the town - that of Sir Arthur Blundell which he built close to Fort Falkland (Loeber 1980, 133-4). Otherwise there are no ostensible remains of 17th-century dwellings in the town. There was a bridge (OF021-003009-) at Banagher by 1690 which, it has been suggested, may have been put up between 1671 and 1690 (Cooke 1875, 320-22). The present bridge dates from the 1840s and was built on the site of a mid 18th century predecessor (Bradley 1986, 12-19). Archaeological trial trenching carried out by H. King in 1992 on the site of the extension to the Garda Station on Harbour Street revealed no archaeological features or any evidence of an archaeological activity on the footprint of this development. Archaeological monitoring of the sewerage works by Jacinta Kiely in Banagher was undertaken in 1997 under licence no. 97E0444 as previously reported (Excavations 1997, 146-7). The trenches varied from 1m to 2m wide and from 1.5m to 3.5m deep. No archaeological stratigraphy, features or artefacts were recorded from the trenches on Cuba Avenue, Lusmagh Road, the area of the Marina, Crank Road or Main Street, or the areas of the pumping stations. A limestone wall, recorded in the manhole K1, and the return of a wall, recorded in the sewer trench between N4 and N3, were uncovered in the area of the Constabulary Barracks. It is possible that these walls were associated with the 17th-century fort. A ditch, 4m wide and 1.5m deep, was recorded in the rising-main trench between B3 (Main Street) and the Crank Road. Four fills were recorded in the ditch. No artefacts were recovered. The ditch may be the 17th-century town earthworks. It lies 15m south-west of the line of the town defences as proposed by the Urban Archaeological Survey of County Offaly. According to a plantation map of the town, which dates to c. 1629, the town was defended on three sides by an earthwork, linear in plan except to the north-east, where there was a projecting bulwark. No evidence of the earthwork was recorded in the area of M8, east of the Marina Pumping Station. A stone wall running N-S which forms the rear boundary of the hotel in Banagher may have been built on the line of the town defences. The site was in the centre of Banagher, to the east of Main Street, facing south onto Harbour Street. The development consisted of a cinema built in the 1950s that was in use for furniture storage and was to be redeveloped into a two-storey, seven-apartment block. The plans were changed during construction: the building was demolished, and a new building was constructed on the original footprint. Dúchas requested that a photographic survey be carried out, after being notified that the building had been a cinema. Monitoring was carried out in 2002 under licence no. 02E0250 on five service and wall-foundation trenches. The trenches had an average depth of 0.35m and a maximum depth of 1.4m. The main stratum of interest was a layer of garden soil found in all of the trenches. This was the remains of human activity from the 19th century at the rear of properties fronting onto Harbour Street and Main Street. Stuart Elder, Eachtra Archaeological Projects, 9 Riveroaks, Riverstown, Birr, Co. Offaly. Archaeological testing under licence no 03E1538 was carried out at Harbour Rd. in advance of the construction of several townhouses. Nothing of archaeological interest was identified (Excavations Bulletin 2003). Brian O'Donnchadha, 7 Pollnarooma West, Knocknacarra, Galway. Archaeological testing was carried out under licence no. 03E1541 with regard to a planning application for a three-storey-over-basement building to the rear of the Shannon Hotel, Banagher, Co. Offaly, which is listed as a protected structure. Eight trenches were mechanically opened. Testing uncovered sod, garden soil and natural subsoil in each of the trenches. There was a variation in terms of the amount of modern rubbish and 18th- and 19th-century material found within each layer and between trenches, but this is consistent with what one might expect to find in the well-used back gardens of a 19th-century building like the hotel. There was no evidence of earlier activity that would be impacted upon by the proposed development (Excavations Bulletin 2003). Daniel Noonan, The Archaeology Company, Birr Technology Centre, Mill Island, Birr, Co. Offaly. Pre-development testing was carried out by Ellen O'Carroll of The Archaeology Company under licence no. 05E0282 at a proposed development site at the rear of O'Flynn's Supervalu, Banagher, Co. Offaly. Four trenches were excavated by two machines. No archaeological material was in evidence. Ellen O'Carroll, The Archaeology Company, 17 Castle Street, Dalkey, Co. Dublin. Test-trenches were excavated by Kieran Campbell under licence no. 05E1212 on a 65m by 20m development site comprising two long garden plots at the rear of existing dwellings on the east side of Main Street, Banagher, c. 100m south-east of the Market Square (Curraghavarna and Portavolla). There was a difference in level of c. 0.3m between the two gardens, reflecting the natural north-west-facing slope in the ground. Eight test-trenches revealed a uniform stratigraphy of old garden soil over natural subsoil, with no archaeological features or deposits observed. The few finds of crockery and glass were of late 19th- and 20th-century date. The exception was a sherd from a large post-medieval earthenware bowl with a date range of 17th- to early 19th-century. The sherd, of sandy fabric with an internal pale-green glaze, is different from the ware produced in the pottery kiln (OF021-003006-) in nearby Church Street, excavated by the writer in 2004 (Excavations 2004, No. 1379, 04E0854), but is probably also of Irish origin. Kieran Campbell, 6 St Ultan's, Laytown, Co. Meath. Monitoring took place by Kieran Campbell under licence no. 05E0559 during riverbank excavations associated with the installation of new jetties at Silverline Cruisers, Banagher, located in the townland of Curraghavarna and Portavolla. The marinas are constructed partly on the former site of Banagher railway station, the terminus of the 18-mile Clara to Banagher branch line of the Great Southern and Western Railway, which opened in 1861 and closed on 1 January 1963. The marinas were originally constructed in the 1970s, when material dredged from the riverbed was sprea