1999:656 - CLARE, Mayo

Three adjacent sites of burnt stone deposits were excavated under this licence; all were found during monitoring of topsoil removal on the route of the first phase of the Knock–Claremorris Bypass.

Site I was revealed as a low mound of fire-cracked stones resting in a sooty, charcoal-stained clay matrix; its initial flattish appearance suggested disturbance, and local information confirmed that land improvement works had occurred here in the 1960s. It is on the edge of deep bog and survived as a thin (maximum depth of burnt stone: 0.35m) deposit resting partly on boulder clay and partly on peat. It was excavated between the end of October and 4 December 1998. The in situ portion of the site still resting on boulder clay was a shallow spread of burnt stone measuring 5.76m north-west/south-east by 4.54m. Excavation showed that the rest of the site was disturbed; apparently it was levelled and partially pushed towards the south and south-west; disturbed patches of burnt stone mixed through the adjacent peat were encountered on this side of the site. A roughly circular boiling pit cut into the boulder clay was found on the north-east edge of the site, outside the limit of the surviving burnt stone. Finds from the site were several pieces of struck chert, including scrapers, and a polished stone axe.

Site II was a flat, fairly shallow spread of heat-fractured stone lightly mixed with charcoal-stained peat/clay. It was subrectangular with its long axis running roughly north-south. The spread measured 9m north-south by 7.8m and had a maximum depth of 0.3m. It was resting on peat that road excavation revealed reached a maximum depth of 2.8m. This, and a pocket of redeposited boulder clay abutting and partly overlying the burnt stone on the north-east, showed that this was only a redeposited spread, probably deriving from nearby drainage works that were in place before road excavation commenced. No finds were recovered.

Site III was a small, roughly circular, low mound of burnt stone revealed by topsoil removal. It lay directly on a sloping shelf of boulder clay at the edge of deep bog where the peat reached a depth of c. 3m. This site was excavated in January 1999.

The mound measured 4.35m north-south by 5.1m. It was a very shallow deposit ranging from 0.17m to 0.22m deep. The charcoal content in the burnt stone deposit varied; there was very little charcoal in the upper levels of the site, especially towards the centre of the mound, whereas the basal layer of the burnt stone was resting in charcoal-rich, sooty clay. This suggested that the site had suffered exposure and leaching of its uppermost layers. A roughly circular pit was found on the west edge of the site, just clear of the burnt stone deposit; it was cut into the boulder clay and had filled up with peat. No finds were recovered.

Editor's note: Although this site was excavated during 1998, the report was not received in time for inclusion in the bulletin of that year.

'Thornhill', Ballyhaunis Road, Claremorris, Co. Mayo