County: Limerick Site name: CROOM
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 30:134 Licence number: 97E0400 ext.
Author: Martin Fitzpatrick, Arch. Consultancy Ltd.
Site type: Enclosure
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 551257m, N 641085m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.518956, -8.718186
This project concerned the excavation of a site along the route of the Croom Bypass, Co. Limerick. Funding for the project was provided by Limerick County Council and the National Roads Authority. In the townland of Croom, this site was first identified by Celie O Rahilly during fieldwork. It is a subcircular area measuring 27.4m north-south by 25m, which is raised c. 0.5m above the surrounding ground. A low scarp defined the site in the north and south, while traces of a second, similar site were visible to the immediate north-west. Investigation of the monument in 1997 by Thaddeus Breen found that it represented a circular, ditched enclosure, possibly a bivallate ringfort, with a second ringfort adjoining it (Excavations 1997, 113). These monuments had been levelled in the 19th century.
The line of the road-take impinged only on the area to the east of the site and included a possible ditch and external bank feature to the north-east. Stripping of topsoil from the remainder of the field was monitored.
The removal of topsoil in the area of the monument exposed a low bank feature that had been apparent in the survey of the monument. Lying to the north-east of the site, it was 6.5m long, 4.2m wide and 0.48m high. A drainage channel ran north-south through the bank, while a further drain bisected the bank in the south. The bank is made up of a compact, brown, natural subsoil. The survey conducted before excavations shows that this bank feature, while appearing to run from the second enclosure, follows the line of the larger enclosure and may represent a terminal feature associated with the monument.
Immediately south of the bank, excavation revealed a possible ditch that was disturbed by numerous features. The ditch was cut into the grey, natural layer and was filled with an orange/brown, clayey silt. Finds from the fill included numerous fragments of modern glass and animal bone, as well as modern iron fragments. The ditch cut was most definite at the north edge and west face, where it was steep-sided and had a round bottom. A drain feature ran along the east side of the ditch, while further disturbance was evidenced by two drains that ran east-west through the ditch and into the monument. At the south end the ditch feature was further disturbed by a large, stone-filled soak pit. While the ditch feature in the north end appears to be original, the continuation of this ditch through to the south is not definite as it has been substantially disturbed. It may be that the original ditch feature ran for the length of the adjoining bank but was later extended to aid the significant drainage operation that saw the insertion of stone-filled drains throughout the field.
The monitoring of topsoil-stripping revealed numerous drains that acted as drainage channels laid down in the not-too-distant past.
Ballydavid South, Athenry, Co. Galway
