1998:555 - AUGHAMORE VILLAGE, BALLYKILCLINE, Roscommon

Excavations were conducted at the 19th-century village of Aughamore, Ballykilcline townland, Co. Roscommon, from 29 June and to 31 July 1998.

The townland of Ballykilcline, which contains the village, was a Crown estate. The Mahons, who lived in Strokestown Park House, around seven miles away, leased the land from the 1790s to 1834. From 1834 to 1847, however, the townland's tenants owed their rents directly to the English Crown. Before their wholesale eviction in 1847 the tenants refused to pay and were involved in a protracted and violent rent strike. Actions such as this made it possible for early 19th-century observers like John O'Donovan—lexicographer for the Ordnance Survey—to observe that 'the Parish of Kilglass...is proverbial...for its wickedness'. Bailiffs and cartographers were frequently afraid to travel into the townland without an armed escort.

Before excavation, Kevin Barton, of the Applied Geophysics Unit of the National University of Ireland, Galway, made a detailed topographical map of the site and conducted a series of sub- surface geophysical surveys of the site area. The placement of cuttings was based on these tests as well as on information appearing on the Ordnance Survey map. Thirty-five 1m x 2m excavation units were examined.

A total of 1134 artefacts was collected. With the exception of eight isolated stone flakes, all of the artefacts date to the 1800–47 period. The artefact distribution breaks down as follows: ceramics (fine earthenware, coarse earthenware, porcelain and stoneware), 626 sherds (55.2% of total sample); glass (curved and flat), 402 sherds (35.4%); metal (iron, brass, lead and gilding), 62 (5.5%); and other (bone, charcoal sample, slate, animal tooth, whitewash), 44 (3.9%). From a purely historical standpoint perhaps the most interesting artefact was a partial bowl from a white clay smoking pipe discretely stamped '...PEAL', undoubtedly for 'REPEAL'.

Thirty-two contexts were identified. Two of these were narrow, stone alignments that probably constitute the remains of house walls. Another context was a cobbled yard area, just north of one of the stone walls. The stone walls will be excavated in 1999.

The soil stratigraphy at the site consisted of five layers: sod, topsoil, two horizons of dark yellowish/ brown, loamy soil and a deeper, dark yellowish/ brown, culturally sterile clay. Most of the artefacts and man-made features were found in the topsoil or just below, in the two layers of loam. Little if any mixing could be observed in these soil layers.

This excavation was conducted as part of a larger archaeological effort to examine the material basis of rural life on the eve of the Great Hunger. Although it is the third site tested as part of this research project, it is clearly the most interesting. The interpretations of Gorttoose (Excavations 1996, 95) and Mulliviltrin (Excavations 1997, 152–3) were confused by the substantial degree of post-abandonment disturbance that had taken place. A large amount of data was gathered from both sites on the material culture of the period. Much of this information can be used in the interpretation of the most recent excavation, but neither site permits the level of analysis that will be possible with the Aughamore material. Of the artefacts collected, the ceramic sample will prove especially important. The large amount of imported, English, fine earthenware in the sample is interesting because it implies that instead of paying their annual rents to the Crown the tenants used their meagre funds to improve their material conditions. In addition the collection of locally made coarse earthenware further argues for the importance of this industry to the men and women of the countryside.

The Aughamore site is important from both historical and archaeological standpoints, and it is expected that further excavations will broaden our understanding of early 19th-century rural life in this part of the country.

Normal, IL 61790-4640, USA