County: Roscommon Site name: DERRANE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 35:87 Licence number: 99E0561
Author: Richard Crumlish, Archaeological Services Unit Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 588304m, N 768578m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.666827, -8.176971
Pre-development testing was carried out between 14 and 18 October 1999 at the site of a proposed development at Derrane townland, Co. Roscommon, which consisted of the realignment, by Roscommon County Council, of a 360m section of the N61, north of Roscommon town. The proposed development is adjacent to an earthwork.
Five trenches were excavated during the testing, positioned to cover that area of the proposed development nearest the monument. Four of them were to the west of the existing road and were excavated by machine. The fifth was to the east of the existing road, 0.5m east of the field boundary and in the same field as the earthwork, at 2–10m from the limit of the monument. It was excavated by hand (topsoil-stripped by machine). The five trenches were orientated north-south and were 13.5–20.5m long, 1–1.2m wide and 0.15–1.0m deep.
The stratigraphy was the same in the four trenches excavated to the west of the existing road: topsoil 0.1–0.2m thick, below which was a rubble backfill of stones 0.4–0.5m thick, below which was grey/brown, stony natural subsoil, visible to the base of the trench. The stratigraphy in the fifth trench was topsoil 0.15–0.3m thick, below which was natural subsoil, visible to the base of the trench.
No artefacts were in evidence in any of the four trenches excavated to the west of the existing road. A number of artefacts were recovered from the topsoil in the fifth trench. These were several fragments of modern glass, a clay pipe bowl fragment and five sherds of pottery (yet to be analysed).
The testing revealed undisturbed stratigraphy in the trench excavated to the east of the existing road. The remaining four trenches were opened in an area owned by the County Council and revealed evidence of backfilling in recent times. This is likely to have been carried out by the County Council when it last straightened this section of road.
Purcell House, Oranmore, Co. Galway
