County: Mayo Site name: FARRANOO/GARRANKEEL/BELLEEK/KILMORE-MOY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0284
Author: Paula King, for Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd.
Site type: Fulachta fia
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 538146m, N 808937m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.025921, -8.944005
Before the commencement of the development the site, an area of c. 100 acres, consisted of undulating, well-drained pastureland and pockets of waterlogged peat. The removal of topsoil by bulldozers and mechanical diggers was monitored.
Two spreads of heat-fractured stones, each with an associated trough, were identified at the south-west area of the development. The spreads were positioned at a distance of c. 20m apart, at the edge of a low-lying, waterlogged area. The ground level rose to the west and south of the sites.
The spreads were excavated by hand. Spread 1 was subrectangular in plan. It measured 13.5m north- south by 11.5m and ranged from 0.2m to 0.5m high. It was composed of a combination of heat-fractured sandstone (80%) and limestone (10%) in a charcoal-rich matrix. Two modern field drains and a horse, buried in a machine-dug pit, cut the spread.
A trough underlay the north-east edge of the spread. It was oval in plan and measured 1.55m along its long axis and 0.55m deep.
Spread 2 was sub-oval in plan. It measured 8.2m east-west by 4m and reached a maximum height of 0.26m. Modern agricultural activities and topsoil-stripping had truncated the northern edge. The primary components were heat-fractured sandstone (80%) and limestone (20%).
A trough was sealed and partly filled by the burnt mound material. Its northern end had been removed by recent agricultural activity. It survived for a length of 2.75m and ranged from 0.6m to 0.76m wide. The sides were straight, and its base was flat.
The excavation retrieved no small finds of archaeological significance.
Patrician Park, Newport Road, Castlebar, Co. Mayo
