County: Galway Site name: TUAM: Townparks (1st Division)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 29:170 Licence number: 99E0513
Author: Dominic Delany
Site type: Enclosure
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 542873m, N 752768m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.521774, -8.861478
Monitoring of topsoil removal and ground reduction was undertaken before a proposed residential development, from 6 September to 21 October 1999. The site comprises a large green-field area (7.894 hectares), bounded by existing residential developments to the east and south and by agricultural lands to the north and west. The site contains the west half of an enclosure, clearly marked on OS maps but now no longer visible. Testing was undertaken on the east half of the monument by Richard Crumlish in 1995 (Excavations 1995, 38, 95E0084).
The monument is at the south-east end of the proposed development site. The recommended margin of 15m to be left undisturbed could not be achieved as the monument is close to the only point of access to the site.
Excavations revealed a uniform stratigraphy across the site. A loose, dark brown, silty clay topsoil, 0.65m thick, overlay a moderately compact, mid-brown, silty sand subsoil. A compacted, cream boulder clay occurred at a depth of 1.15m. Six linear features, representing modern field boundaries and drainage ditches, were encountered during monitoring. No features, deposits or finds of archaeological interest were revealed.
31 Ashbrook, Oranmore, Co. Galway
