County: Donegal Site name: BALLYMAGROARTY IRISH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 13:23 Licence number: 01E0480
Author: Declan Moore, Moore Archaeological and Environmental Services Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 590805m, N 867649m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.557098, -8.142149
Monitoring was carried out in the townland of Ballymagroarty Irish, Ballintra, Co. Donegal, on 28 June 2001 for the proposed extension of an existing quarry. Machine-cut test-trenching on a greenfield site was also undertaken.
The site is on well-drained undulating pasture; there are a number of earlier quarry sites along the north-east of the field. The site measured approximately 45,000m2. It is bounded to the north and east by existing open excavation areas and the existing country road runs along the north side of the proposed development. The site of a possible souterrain is to the north-east of the area.
The underlying geology consisted of limestone bedrock. Topsoil and sod consistently overlay a compact yellowish brown sandy silt with frequent inclusions of small to medium-sized stones and moderate inclusions of pebbles, which directly overlay bedrock exposed at the base of excavations.
There was no visible sign of the possible souterrain and nothing of archaeological significance was observed during the course of testing. All three test-trenches revealed natural, undisturbed stratigraphy. A programme of field-walking throughout the remainder of the field revealed no residual evidence of archaeology.
200 Dún na Coiribe, Galway
