2000:0065 - CLONMONEY WEST (Site 43A), Clare

Test excavation took place here from 24 to 27 January 2000, in advance of road development on the Ballycasey–Dromoland Road Improvement Scheme, Clonmoney West, Co. Clare. The site is located on the top of a hill with an extensive view to the south over the Shannon estuary. The view is more restricted in other directions. At the time of our investigations, the hilltop was in pasture. The site is visible as a series of linear earthen banks. The banks form a three-sided C-shaped enclosure open to the north-west and another curving bank extending to the south-west.

The test excavation 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. Three trenches were excavated by hand. The locations of the trenches were restricted to the area within the CPO, but most of the visible earthworks lie just outside the CPO. The trenches were positioned to determine if the archaeological deposits extended into the CPO. All the trenches were backfilled at the end of this test phase.

Trench 1 was positioned at the summit of the hilltop, as it was thought that there might be archaeology at this commanding location. It measured 2m x 2m and was excavated down to the limestone bedrock, which was reached at 0.1–0.15m below the surface. No archaeological strata were encountered. The topsoil was resting directly on top of bedrock.

Trench 2 was positioned perpendicular to the easternmost bank where it enters the CPO. It extended up the eastern side of the bank but did not cross it, as this would have brought the trench outside the CPO. It measured 4.82m x 1m and was excavated to a maximum depth of 0.7m below the surface. Bedrock was reached throughout most of the trench. Because the north-western extent of the trench stopped at the CPO, only the eastern side of the bank was excavated. The north-western end of the trench is at the approximate mid-point of the bank. Trench 2 revealed that the bank is man-made, but the limited extent of the trench makes a definitive interpretation of the stratigraphy impossible.

Trench 3 was positioned across and perpendicular to the southernmost bank where it enters the CPO. It was L-shaped and measured 4.4m x 1m with a 1m x 1m extension at its south-west corner (to follow a stone wall revealed in the original trench). It was excavated to a maximum depth of 0.46m below the surface at its western end in order to expose the remains of a collapsed stone wall within the bank. Bedrock was reached in approximately 50% of the trench, but the stone wall was not excavated through, just revealed, and it is therefore not clear at this stage what stratum the stone wall is resting on. Trench 3 revealed that the curving bank extending to the south-west was a soil-covered collapsed stone wall.

This test excavation has revealed that the earthworks visible on Site 43A are a combination of earthen banks and long-collapsed stone walls now covered with soil. Two pieces of iron slag and a cow tooth were recovered from the top layers of the earthen bank that forms the eastern side of the C-shaped enclosure. This position in the stratigraphy suggests that these finds are contemporary with the occupation of the enclosure. Two pieces of butchered bovine bone were recovered far to the south-east in Trench 1, which are therefore possibly contemporary with the occupation of the site (rather than just being a random dead animal). The iron slag and the bone suggest a domestic/industrial function for the site. The finds are not particularly diagnostic and could date to any time from the Iron Age to the late historic period, but, given the paucity of Iron Age sites and the buried condition of the site, a date in the medieval to post-medieval period seems likely.

Trench 1 did not reveal any archaeological strata, but the presence of possibly butchered bone this far outside the enclosure indicates the real potential for the site to extend beyond the visible earthworks. Trench 2 revealed that the eastern side of the C-shaped enclosure extends into the CPO and that it is an earthen bank surrounding a domestic/industrial area. Trench 3 revealed that the curving bank extending to the south-west covers a collapsed stone wall that extends into the CPO.

63 Cregaun, Tobarteascain, Ennis, Co. Clare