2000:0054 - BUNRATTY WEST, Clare

A five-acre site for which a development of detached houses was proposed was tested in May 2000. Five cuttings, each measuring c. 15m by 1m, were mechanically excavated. Cutting 1 produced a single pan-tile fragment but no archaeological features; Cutting 2 was archaeologically sterile. In Cutting 3 part of a large pit was exposed. This was filled with black, silty clay containing some animal bones and a small sherd from a dish of ‘double slip’ Beauvais Sgraffito, made in northern France in the 16th century. Two other features were identified in this cutting: a post-hole and a small pit, the latter containing a very abraded sherd from a wheel-thrown jug with patchy green glaze, possibly made in Bristol, dating from the 13th/early 14th century. Nothing of archaeological interest was noted in Cutting 4.

Part of a very substantial ditch, more than 8m wide, aligned east–west, was revealed in the southern half of Cutting 5. This was filled with homogeneous, loose, dark grey/black, silty clay, up to 1.45m thick. It is likely that this feature is part of the same ditch, of 13th/14th-century date, found by Celie O Rahilly in 1991 in Bunratty East (Excavations 1991, 6). Given its dimensions, the ditch must be considered part of the defences of the medieval borough of Bunratty. The enlarged urban limits of Bunratty were enclosed by a ditch of 17th-century date, which was tested in 1990 by John Bradley and Heather King (Excavations 1990, 14). The archaeological activity evident in Cutting 3 lies comfortably within the limits defined by the 17th-century ditch. Further investigation in advance of development was recommended.