County: Sligo Site name: CLOONAGLEAVRAGH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 11:75 Licence number: 99E0195
Author: Richard Crumlish, Archaeological Services Unit Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 538692m, N 836675m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.275197, -8.941320
Pre-development testing was carried out on 4 May 1999 in response to a recommendation made by Dúchas The Heritage Service following the grant of planning permission by Sligo County Council for the construction of a potato store at Cloonagleavragh, Easky, Co. Sligo. It was undertaken because the proposed development was within the site of a recorded monument, a ringfort. No extant remains of the monument were in evidence during the excavator's initial site visit. The site was within a farmyard c. 2 miles south-east of Easky village, in relatively flat pastureland. An extant ringfort (SMR 11:73) was visible in the distance, to the west.
Two trial-trenches were excavated by machine during the testing, positioned to best cover the area of the proposed development. They were orientated north-south and were 20m long, 0.9–1.1m wide and 1.3–1.8m deep. The stratigraphy encountered was the same in both trenches: topsoil 0.1–0.3m thick, above an orange/brown, sandy subsoil 0.1–0.3m thick, above a dark grey, sandy subsoil 0.5–1m thick, above a compact, grey, stony boulder clay visible along the base of the trench.
The testing revealed no evidence of the ringfort sited here. What was in evidence was mostly natural, undisturbed stratigraphy. All four of the subsoils in the two trenches were sterile, containing only stones. Two sherds of modern pottery (whiteware) were recovered from the topsoil.
Purcell House, Oranmore, Co. Galway
