2024:417 - Upper Manor, Tulsk, Roscommon

An application was made for full planning permission to construct a domestic dwelling house along with domestic garage, new treatment system and percolation area and all ancillary site development works at Upper Manor, Tulsk, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon. The site of the proposed development was adjacent to RO028-145 – Rath. In this context, pre-development archaeological testing was required together with an archaeological impact assessment report.
While no upstanding remains were noted on the site, it was possible that the construction of the dwelling and related ground works could have a negative impact on any subsoil archaeological deposits which might survive across the area of the site. It was therefore proposed to undertake a phase of archaeological testing to consist of a series of machine-dug test trenches, excavated across the footprint of the development area. Testing took place on 31 October 2024.
All of the six 1.8m-wide test trenches were variably alike with topsoil consisting of a yellow-brown loam clay, which at the time of the testing was waterlogged. Across the site, subsoil consisted of a relatively consistent light yellow-brown compact glacial till. The only features noted were agricultural in origin, consisting of slight evidence of plough furrows generally heading in a roughly southwest to northeast line across the trenches.
Nothing of archaeological significance was noted in any of the trenches.