County: Mayo Site name: CASTLEGAR
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0051
Author: Paula King
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 535444m, N 776451m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.733710, -8.978406
Testing for archaeological remains was undertaken at this location on the Knock-Claremorris Bypass, Co. Mayo, as the route of the proposed road passed close to earthworks of possible archaeological significance. An area of 125m by 46m was stripped to undisturbed subsoil. Surface finds retrieved from the area before testing were a fragment of a decorated rotary quern and a fragment of roughly hewn sandstone masonry.
Testing showed that the area had been substantially quarried out and then filled over in the recent past. No features or deposits associated with the possible earthworks were present. A deposit of peat, the only in situ natural layer apart from the subsoil to survive within the test area, was identified at the edge of the quarry. Removal of the peat revealed two disturbed deposits of heat-fractured sandstone. These were fully excavated by hand under an extension to the licence.
The largest deposit of heat-fractured stone reached a maximum length of 7.5m and was 0.1–0.2m thick. Recent machine-dug pits cut both of the deposits. Most of the burnt material was affected by modern disturbance. The excavation did not identify any other features, finds or deposits.
Westport Road, Castlebar, Co. Mayo
