2001:68 - KILFENORA: Burren Visitor Centre, Main Street, Clare

Archaeological excavation and monitoring took place over a two-week period during February 2001 at the start of construction work at the Burren Centre, Main Street, Kilfenora. A preliminary test excavation was carried out on the site in March 2000 by Judith Carroll (Excavations 2000, No. 80), and a number of recommendations were made for further archaeological investigations.

In February 2001 a large area was opened in the front lawn of the Burren Centre, which was hand-excavated to bedrock. A number of deep linear foundation trenches dug by the building contractors were also monitored, and any archaeological material present was excavated by hand.

Work in the main excavation area revealed only one layer of archaeological interest, at the north-eastern corner of the site (F119). This was deposited directly on the bedrock table, and contained several animal bones as well as a single artefact, a metal slot or hasp of possible medieval date, which would have been used possibly to secure the lid of a chest. A number of pits of uncertain date survived in natural orange-brown boulder clay, which occurred in gaps or channels between the large slabs of limestone bedrock. The only other features uncovered in the excavated area were mortared limestone foundations of 19th-century origin.

The remains of two structures (A and B) were revealed. Structure A, the earlier of the two, was located at the south-eastern corner of the site. Some potsherds of distinctive ‘Mocha’ ware from the 18th/19th century were associated with the masonry. Structure B comprised the foundations of the south-eastern corner of the National School built on the site c. 1840. The remains of both structures were associated with black clay material (F101), which extended across the whole excavated area and was deposited on the natural boulder clay or bedrock, except at the north-eastern corner of the site, where it covered layer F119. Layer F101 contained a large quantity of potsherds and other objects of 19th/20th-century date, and was stratified below a thick rubble layer that was machine-excavated.

The archaeological monitoring of foundation trenches dug during the early stages of construction revealed very limited material of archaeological interest. A layer of ashy material was noted at the northern limit of Foundation Trench 3. This emerged underneath up to 0.3m of black topsoil. It was associated with layer F132, soft dark grey silty clay, containing scattered spots of charcoal, a few small stones and one scrap of burnt bone. Part of the layer was mixed with numerous small stones to form a crust under the topsoil. Layer F132 was stratified directly on the surface of a sticky pale grey-brown silty clay containing several animal bones and isolated charcoal spots. This layer was deposited directly on the uneven surface of the bedrock.
In Foundation Trench 4 a mixed layer of pale grey sediment and grey humic clay, F103, stratified between a great volume of blackish topsoil and the bedrock, was found to be cut by a cluster of negative features, consisting of four pit-like features and one linear gully. Layer F103 itself contained a small base sherd from a red earthenware vessel, datable only very broadly to the 13th–17th centuries, as well as a possible rim fragment from a crucible. The fill of pit F104 contained a small brick fragment; the fill of pit F108 produced a small body sherd of glazed red earthenware, datable only in broad terms to the 16th–18th centuries.

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