1997:223 - RINVILLE WEST, Galway

Two preliminary phases of archaeological assessment were carried out on a housing development site at Rinville West, Oranmore, Co. Galway. Two further phases of archaeological work are required. The development site is a long curvilinear strip between the wooded ground around Rinville House and the recently developed (1992) golf-course to the north of it (the houses will back directly onto the golf-course). The site runs along the summit of a low ridge (approx. 200ft OD) which provides a (now partly obstructed) view of Galway Bay. The archaeological potential and the sensitivity of the site referred to in the EIS for the development relates to the existence of several ringforts in its vicinity and the unvalidated possibility that a souterrain occurs in the centre of the development area.

Two phases of test-trenching were undertaken, one on 10 September 1997 and a second on 10 October 1997. The planning decision for the scheme sought the monitoring of development works on the site and the avoidance of the supposed site of the souterrain and a zone around it. In response, and owing to the fact that the presence of the supposed site had not been validated, a phased approach to pre-development archaeological evaluation was agreed with the National Monuments and Historic Properties Service. The first two phases of work are described here.

Almost all of the site surfaces have been disturbed in some way. Topsoil had evidently been 'borrowed' from some areas, but a great portion of the site has been used to stockpile/dump clay spoil which incorporates rubble in some places. This had been placed all over the site. On the western side of the site it has been placed in many heaps, evidently with a view to spreading it out and levelling it (natural topsoil cover is thin and poor). On the east of the site the material (seen in two of the Phase I test-trenches described below) had been spread and levelled.

Phase I: archaeological inspection of the area of house nos 83–91
This location was investigated by test-trenching in advance of development rather than by simply monitoring the contractor's works. This was necessary to check the soil profile and the depth of overburden and to evaluate the archaeological potential of the area in advance of other building-related works. Three continuous long slit-trenches, up to 90m long, were opened through overburden and topsoil along the lines of proposed foundations. A number of additional short pit-like trenches were opened using a 2m-wide 'ditching' bucket. No archaeological indicators of any sort were revealed.

Phase II: test-trenching
This was undertaken to establish whether an archaeological site existed in the area suggested and whether the 'buffer zone' suggested by the planning decision would have to be adhered to. Six trenches were opened; the three longest, parallel, east-west trenches (Trenches 1–3) were continuous, each over 150m long. The fourth east-west trench was roughly 40m long and was connected to Trench 2 by two further parallel north-south cuttings to ensure that the location of the supposed site was examined adequately. Each of the trenches opened revealed bedrock between 200mm and 800mm below present ground level in most places. At its deepest it lay at 1.1m below present ground level; at this lower depth it was covered by natural clay soil. No archaeological indicators of any sort were noted.

Of interest, however, was the way in which the weathered surface of the bedded limestone bedrock came away in large slabs, especially in the location of the supposed site. It is possible that the notion of a souterrain in the locality was based on the observation of capstone-like blocks on the surface of the site in the vicinity during fieldwork for the EIS or the Sites and Monuments Record.

Rath House, Ferndale Road, Rathmichael, Co. Dublin