2024:792 - Cloonascragh, Galway

Archaeological pre-development testing was undertaken from 19 to 25 March, 2024. This involved the mechanical excavation of 24 test-trenches in two separate areas in the townland of Cloonascragh, Co. Galway. Testing in Area 1, located to the east of the main Athenry to Tuam road, recorded no features and/or finds of archaeological significance. The stratigraphy encountered consisted of sod and topsoil overlying the natural layers with a number of furrows and drains recorded, possibly associated with recent agricultural and drainage activity.

Pre-development testing in Area 2, located to the northwest of Area 1 and to the west of the main Athenry-Tuam road, recorded a similar stratigraphy throughout, with sod and topsoil overlying the natural. However in the southeast of Area 1, excavations in T1 revealed the remains of a burnt mound directly below the sod and topsoil. It measured c.12m x 8m and consisted of a low mound of heat-shattered stone in a blackish brown silty clay with charcoal inclusions. Finds from the area were comprised of fragments of 20th/21st-century pottery and glass.