County: Mayo Site name: BALLINA WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT, Belleek, Ballina
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 30:53 Licence number: 99E0117
Author: Gerry Walsh
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 524697m, N 820197m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.125300, -9.152020
Mayo County Council proposes to extend and refurbish the existing wastewater treatment plant in Belleek, Ballina, Co. Mayo. The proposed development is within the archaeological constraint of SMR 30:54, a cairn. No remains of this cairn are evident above present ground level in the area marked on the constraint map. A small cairn of stones c. 10m in diameter lies on top of the earthwork (SMR 30:53) immediately to the north of 30:54. It may be the case that the area circled for 30:54 is the same as that for 30:53, i.e. a cairn on top of an earthwork. SMR 30:53 is over 100m from the northern edge of the proposed development.
Before testing, a subcontractor commenced work and stripped some topsoil from the proposed location of one of the trenches. The subcontractor also stripped some topsoil and commenced the digging of foundations for a sludge dewatering building outside the southern boundary of the existing treatment plant. The area stripped measures 60m x 30m and includes the compound for the temporary site offices. The partially in-place foundations of the sludge dewatering building measure c. 30m x 20m. The sod/topsoil layer in this area was on average 0.64m thick and lay directly above a natural, orange boulder clay. No archaeological features or finds were observed in this area.
Three test-trenches were excavated by machine, between 24m and 30m long and 2m wide. Trench 1 was inside the northern end of the existing treatment plant. It was clear from the excavation that the ground here had been disturbed and landscaped, presumably when the plant was built in 1984. No archaeological features or finds were recovered from it or any of the other trenches.
Rathbawn Road, Castlebar, Co. Mayo
