County: Mayo Site name: DOWAGH WEST
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 121:92 Licence number: 99E0699
Author: Richard Crumlish, Archaeological Services Unit Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 518347m, N 755752m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.545352, -9.232028
Pre-development testing was carried out on 8 December 1999 in response to conditions of planning imposed on the proposed development at Dowagh West, Cross, Co. Mayo, as the proposed development is within the recorded constraint of an enclosure. The development consisted of the construction of a dwelling-house, septic tank and garage. The site was on a ridge that runs in an east-west direction across a field of good grazing land along the main Cross–Ballinrobe road (R334).
Four trenches, 10.3–22.7m long, 1–1.2m wide and 0.4–1.4m deep, were excavated by machine
The stratigraphy in three of the trenches was natural and undisturbed. The stratigraphy in the fourth consisted of topsoil, below which was natural subsoil and a thin layer of stones along a 5m section at the south-west end of the trench. Below the natural were grey boulder clay and bedrock. This layer of stone was probably the remains of a field clearance cairn that was itself cleared at a later date.
Two modern pottery sherds were recovered during the testing, which revealed no archaeological evidence. The enclosure marked in the RMP was not visible; the hachure on the OS 6-inch sheet represented a bank that was barely perceptible, if at all.
Purcell House, Oranmore, Co. Galway
