2001:908 - DERRAGH, Mayo

This site, identified during the removal of topsoil on the Knock–Claremorris Bypass, was fully excavated. It was situated at the base of a steep hill on the southern bank of a river and consisted of a spread of heat-fractured stones, a large plank resting on a wooden substructure, a trough and a feature composed of wooden stakes.

The burnt spread, composed of heat-fractured stones and charcoal, was 10.34m east–west by 5.3m by 0.45m thick and had been disturbed by modern land reclamation. A feature consisting of a plank (1.87m long by 0.7m wide) resting on a wooden substructure was situated at the southern edge of the spread. The plank was oriented east–west. Tool-marks were present on its underside. The substructure was rectangular in plan and was composed of longitudinally and transversely laid roundwoods and brushwood. The plank and the substructure sat in a shallow subrectangular cut in the underlying peat. The cut was 2.2m long by 1.26m wide by 0.26m deep. There was an arrangement of twelve wooden stakes at the eastern end of the plank. A number of the stakes were driven into the fill of a disused trough. The trough extended from the plank to the riverbank. The edges of the trough were not clear and its extent was determined by the fill. It was 3.7m long by 1.3m wide and 0.6–0.8m deep.

Westport Road, Castlebar, Co. Mayo