County: Galway Site name: KILCOLGAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0174
Author: Richard Crumlish, Archaeological Services Unit Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 541923m, N 718109m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.210233, -8.869438
Pre-development testing in the form of trial-trenching was carried out on 27 May 1997 in accordance with a condition of planning for a development which consisted of the construction of a dwelling-house and septic tank. The site was located less than one mile west-south-west of Kilcolgan village in undulating grassland. Kilcolgan Castle is just visible to the north-east, where its grounds adjoin the site. Adjacent to the site in the north-east, through north, to north-west is the tidal part of the Kilcolgan River.
Little is known of the medieval borough of Kilcolgan, which was established in the 13th century after Maurice Fitzgerald was given lands here by Richard de Burgh following the Anglo-Norman invasion of Connacht. It was probably abandoned during the 14th and 15th centuries. No surface evidence remains of the borough except for the site of Kilcolgan Castle (now the location of a 19th-century building) and ecclesiastical remains to the south-west of the castle.
Two trenches excavated by machine revealed similar stratigraphy. This consisted of topsoil below which was found natural subsoil. Below the natural subsoil were found natural sands and gravels at 0.25–1.05m below the surface. One oyster shell was recovered from the topsoil in one of the trenches.
No archaeology was encountered during the testing of the site. The stratigraphy encountered was natural and undisturbed. No artefacts were recovered and no features were in evidence.
Purcell House, Oranmore, Co. Galway
