2000:0051 - BALLYNACRAGGA (Area 7), Clare

Excavation and monitoring work was carried out in Ballynacragga townland as part of the N18/N19 Ballycasey to Dromoland Road Improvement Scheme. The work sought to examine a linear stone complex, possibly an early field system, as identified in an initial environmental impact assessment. Eight trenches of varying dimensions were excavated throughout the site. All, with the exception of three, were dug by hand. A portion of the area was subsequently topsoil-stripped, and all exposed archaeological features were recorded and excavated.

Testing exposed a burnt mound c. 7m in diameter composed of fire-shattered stones in a matrix of charcoal-blackened silt. This feature underlay a stone alignment and was irregularly shaped, consisting of two low subcircular mounds overlying a small, thin layer of decayed wood and peat. There was no evidence of an associated hearth or trough near the mound.

Excavation on the extant walls of the field system failed to produce any datable material. The walls were of drystone construction and survived to only two to three courses. Topsoil-stripping exposed a further two features and an intact rotary quern. The first feature, a rough stone trackway, ran east–west across a marshy area and consisted of cobble-sized stones and occasional boulders. A single sherd of modern pottery and a number of redbrick fragments were found in the trackway fill. Both finds would suggest a relatively late date for its construction.

South of this was a roughly circular burnt spread, c. 9m in diameter and 0.1m deep. This burnt spread overlay a square central wooden platform. The platform was constructed of regularly placed longitudinal rods secured into the surrounding peat by six pegs. The pegs, all partially decomposed, were driven in at an approximate angle of 60–80o and had an average depth of 0.3m. Nothing else was found in association.

Editor’s note: The summary of this excavation, which was carried out during 1999, arrived too late for publication in the bulletin of that year.