2000:0049 - BALLYMALEY–CORROVORRIN, Clare

Monitoring took place along the line of a sewerage scheme running north out of Ennis, Co. Clare. Extensive monitoring of all groundworks was undertaken following instruction from Dúchas The Heritage Service. A pre-development assessment carried out by Judith Carroll showed the line of development coming close to areas of human activity associated with fulachta fiadh. Monitoring work found the remains of such activity at the northern extreme of the development at Ballymaley and at the southern extreme of the development at Corrovorrin. The scheme was 9km in length.

An interim report on the monitoring was lodged with Dúchas at the end of July 1998, followed by an impact statement on 12 August 1998 dealing with the suspected archaeological remains found during monitoring. A new licence, 98E0400, was issued to cover the excavation at the two sites as well as the running of the ongoing monitoring operation (see Excavations 2000, No. 50). No other archaeological material was found during the remaining monitoring. The last phase of the monitoring was carried out by Ken Hanley for Judith Carroll (Excavations 1998, 7, 98E0277).

The monitoring involved stripping before the trench excavations where possible. This preferred method of working, from an archaeological monitoring point of view, was not possible for most of the length of the development because of the way the trenches were excavated. The going was often slow; it proved very difficult to get schedules of work from the contractors and they preferred not to strip too far in advance either because of poor ground conditions or because of going through built-up areas.

Editor’s note: The summary of this excavation, which was carried out during 1998, arrived too late for publication in the bulletin of that year.

Riveroaks, Riverstown, Birr, Co. Offaly