1988:04 - GRAGAN WEST, Clare

The site lies c.5 miles SSW of Ballyvaughan just below the summit of Corkskrew hill. It was first noted by the present landowner during clearance of hazel scrub in the early 1980s. At that time the site consisted of a roughly circular mound of material, 22.5m in diameter and about 1m in maximum height.

During subsequent development at the farm the western half of the mound was levelled (and harrowed) and an outbuilding erected in the SW sector. In addition a farm track now bisects the site north/south and a modern drystone wall runs through the southern half. In the course of this work one valve of a two-part stone axe-mould, part of a stone mortar and an iron pick were recovered as well as an iron slag and animal bone. In more recent years the erection of a shelter belt on the south side of the modern drystone wall yielded a spindle whorl and tracked stones.

The landowner brought these objects to the attention of the National Museum of Ireland and a 7 week excavation financed by the museum was undertaken during October and November 1988. The mound was found to consist of weathered limestone scree (average stone size 8-10cm)in a matrix of dark brown silty clay. Directly beneath the sod towards the centre of the site a rectangular cist like feature formed of low slabs was set into the mound. The structure measured 1.1m east/west by 0.60m north/south and was open at the eastern end. Two shattered flags formed a floor at the western end and the structure was filled by sod and a thin stratum of cairn material.

The only other feature recovered was the remains of a drystone wall curving north-east downhill. The western end of the wall had been truncated by the modern farmtrack and the eastern terminus peters out onto the bedrock. It appears to be a secondary feature. The mound itself reached a maximum height of c.1.35m near the centre, tailing off steeply downslope to the east and more gently to the north and south. No stratigraphy was evident and layering where it occurred was due to settlement and water action rather than any specific archaeological activity.

The material had been thrown directly onto the exposed surface of the bedrock and at the centre of the mound large detached flags of bedrock remained in situ.A large quantity of animal bone, some iron slag and occasional oyster and barnacle shells were recovered from the top 40cm of the mound but the bulk of the finds were concentrated in the very disturbed western half of the site. These included spindle whorls, a loom weight, hones, a strike-a-light, amber bead, a quartz toggle and a key for a barrel-padlock.

A decorated rim sherd of an Early Bronze Age food vessel vase was also found in the disturbed deposits here. Elsewhere on the site a bone toggle, socketed iron spearhead of late first millennium/early medieval form, yellow herringbone bead, two stone gaming pieces, a small bronze ring and miscellaneous iron artefacts were recovered.

Owing to considerable disturbance at the site no unequivocal interpretation is possible. It is possible that the site was originally a Bronze Age monument, perhaps a burial mound subsequently modified and settled in the first millennium AD.

About 35m to the north of the site, isolated pockets of stratified archaeological material are visible due to recent disturbance. The area has been machine cleared and now forms part of a cattle-crush. The deposits consist of spreads of charcoal a few centimetres in depth and contain iron slag, animal bone and flecks of burnt clay. A stone dagger or knife and a very fragmentary bronze object, possibly a dagger with a raised mid-rib, were recovered. These deposits may represent the remains of further Bronze Age activity.