County: Galway Site name: TUAM: Townparks
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 29:170 Licence number: 95E0084
Author: Richard Crumlish, Archaeological Services Ltd
Site type: Enclosure
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 542963m, N 752623m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.520481, -8.860095
This excavation took place as part of a contract along the route of a water pipeline, part of the Tuam Regional Water Supply Scheme. The work was carried out between 26 April and 30 May 1995, by the Archaeological Services Unit, UCG, for Galway County Council.
The site consisted of a destroyed enclosure, located in Townparks (1st Division) townland, situated to the north-west of Tuam town, where the proposed pipeline corridor cut through the eastern half of the site. Only the western half of the site was marked on the 1st edition of the 6" OS map. No trace of the monument was visible above ground.
Eight trenches were manually opened within the pipeline corridor to investigate the site. Three of these were excavated across the full width of the corridor. A further two trenches were opened across the conjectured line of the enclosing element at its northern and southern extremities.
The trenches revealed a semicircular ditch, 2.7–3.1m in width and 1.3–1.6m in depth, with steep sides and a slightly rounded base. The top of the external side of the ditch was located outside the eastern limit of the pipeline corridor in two of the three trenches excavated across the full corridor. The ditch was filled by disturbed material containing modern artefacts, redeposited natural subsoil, clays and loams with some charcoal and bone.
The redeposited natural subsoil fill could be the remains of a bank feature, of which very little remained. It was barely visible in two of the trenches, just over 0.2m high, and not visible at all in the other three.
In the north-eastern quadrant of the site an entrance feature was uncovered. It measured 2.3m long, 5m wide and over 1.5m high above the base of the ditch on either side. The final three trenches were opened to fully explore this feature. It was orientated east-north-east by west-south-west and its north-north-west side was faced by a number of rocks set in the natural subsoil, into which the entrance feature was cut. The rocks averaged 0.25m x 0.25m in size.
A ditch running north-north-east to south-south-west across the interior of the site, along the western limit of the pipeline corridor, was deemed to be of more recent construction. No other features were uncovered within the interior of the site.
Oranmore Industrial Park, Claregalway Rd, Oranmore, Co. Galway
