County: Sligo Site name: ARDKEERIN, Riverstown
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 27:120 Licence number: 99E0631
Author: Gerry Walsh
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 573808m, N 819686m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.125553, -8.400695
Pre-development testing was undertaken on the site of a proposed development in Ardkeerin, Riverstown, Co. Sligo. A ringfort is located in the field of the proposed development. Five test-trenches were excavated with a machine.
Trench 1 measured 14m x 1.5m. The stratigraphy consisted of a sod/topsoil layer 0.14m thick, which directly overlay a natural, light brown/orange boulder clay. Trench 2 measured 20m x 1.5m. At the southern end the sod/topsoil layer, 0.35m thick, directly overlay a natural, light brown/orange boulder clay. At the northern end the sod/topsoil layer, 0.31m thick, directly overlay a natural, light brown/orange boulder clay.
Trench 3 measured 25m x 1.5m. It was excavated on the site of a partially levelled cattle crush. The stratigraphy was very disturbed. At the eastern end of the trench the sod, 0.12m thick, overlay a mix of white and brown mortar, 0.24m thick. Underlying the mortar was a mid-brown clay/topsoil, 0.15m thick. This directly overlay the natural, brown/orange boulder clay. At the western end of the trench the sod, 0.1m thick, directly overlay a gravel-and-concrete rubble fill layer, 0.4m thick. The upper stone of a rotary quern was recovered from this modern rubble fill layer. The natural, brown/orange boulder clay directly underlay the modern rubble fill layer.
Trench 4 measured 25m x 1.5m. At the eastern end of the trench the sod/topsoil layer, 0.19m thick, directly overlay a natural, stony, light brown/orange boulder clay. At the western end of the trench the sod/topsoil, 0.25m thick, directly overlay a natural, stony, light brown/orange boulder clay. Trench 5 measured 25m x 1.5m. The sod/topsoil layer, 0.19m thick, directly overlay a natural, stony, light brown/ orange boulder clay.
Except for the quernstone, which was recovered from a disturbed modern fill layer, no archaeological features or small finds were recovered from any of the test-trenches.
Rathbawn Road, Castlebar, Co. Mayo
