2000:0064 - CLONMONEY WEST (Site 42), Clare

Test excavation took place in advance of road development at Site 42 on the N18/N19 Ballycasey–Dromoland Road Improvement Scheme, Clonmoney West, Co. Clare. The site, on gently sloping pasture, is visible as a low, grass-covered rectangular enclosure. The ground drops gently to the south and east and rises gently to the north and west. The test excavation, carried out on 17–21 January 2000, was designed to provide a date for the enclosure, to provide some evidence for the nature of activities carried out on the site and to provide a view of the stratigraphy. Two trenches were excavated by hand.

Trench 1 was positioned across the south wall of the enclosure and perpendicular to it. It measured 8.7m x 1m and was excavated to a maximum depth of 0.45m below the surface. Bedrock was reached throughout much of the trench, and the natural substrate was reached throughout the entire trench.

On the north side of Trench 1 a ditch had been excavated down to the top of the bedrock, and the top layer of limestone bedrock had been quarried off the underlying siltstone bedrock. The debris from this excavation and quarrying activity was then thrown back into the ditch and also onto the old ground surface south of the ditch. The debris formed a slight mound. A stone wall was then built on top of this mound using the quarried blocks of limestone. While the wall was standing (or at least while the two base courses were standing), a layer of small stones was thrown up against the exterior of the wall (possibly field clearance). At some point the upper courses of the wall collapsed to the north (the interior of the enclosure). A layer of soil formed over the wall collapse, and finally topsoil covered the collapsed wall completely.

Trench 2 was placed near the centre of the enclosure and measured 2m x 2m. It was excavated to a maximum depth of 0.72m below the surface. Bedrock was exposed throughout most of the trench, and the natural substrate was reached throughout the entire trench.

Removal of the topsoil revealed two relatively thin deposits sitting directly on top of the natural substrate. Finds were recovered from both deposits, as well as from the top 50mm of the natural. The natural substrate was underlain by the same bedrock as in the south portion of Trench 1.

Trench 1 revealed that the enclosure is formed by a stone wall and that the material for this stone wall was quarried on site. The deposit of small stones against the exterior of the enclosure is probably the result of field clearance. This suggests that tillage was taking place immediately outside the enclosure. Bone was recovered from beneath the wall, as well as in the wall tumble and in the topsoil, which shows that there was pre-enclosure activity on the site. No diagnostic finds were recovered from Trench 1 to definitively date the enclosure.

Trench 2 produced an array of finds indicating post-medieval activity in the centre of the enclosure. Although the present test was too limited to definitively link this activity to the enclosure, it seems likely that the two are contemporary. The finds relate to both industrial and domestic activities. The clinkers and the iron slag suggest that there may have been a forge on site. The pottery, glass and clay pipe fragment suggest that people also lived on or near the site. The nails, the small piece of brick and the small piece of roofing slate all suggest that there may have been a building within the enclosure.

The site appears to have been a medieval/post-medieval farmstead where activities were carried out both within and outside the enclosure.

63 Cregaun, Tobarteascain, Ennis, Co. Clare