2001:1128 - AUGHRIS, Sligo

A small subrectangular earthen enclosure south-east of ‘Healy’s Round Hill’ (a large mound) on Ruball Sionnaigh racecourse in Aughris, Templeboy, was excavated from 13 to 23 August 2001. The aim of the project was to determine the composition, function and date of this monument type, which is common to the north Connacht coastline. Several hundred occur along the western coastline of Aughris headland and additional groups have been noted in coastal locations at Kilcummin, Co. Mayo, Portavaud, Lackan, and Cloonagh, Co. Sligo. Each of the locations in which they are found was under estate management from the 18th to the early 20th century. The enclosures at Aughris have been variously interpreted as barrows, kelp-drying or burning platforms, steads for turf or hayricks, military encampments relating to the French landings of 1798, and platforms for temporary shelters. The results of this excavation, combined with ethnographic and historical detail, suggest that they might have been used as dry platforms for stacking some crop—possibly seawrack—and may be comparable in their function to the fionnán enclosures, used for stacking purple moor grass, recorded in south Kerry by O’Sullivan and Sheehan (1992).

The upstanding morphology of the enclosure was extremely basic—a subrectangular area, aligned north–south, with external dimensions of 13m by 7m (c. 9m north–south by 3m internally). The area was enclosed by a shallow fosse surrounded by the flattened remains of a low external bank. Three cuttings, 3.5m by 3.5m, and a fourth 3.5m by 1m, were opened. The total area excavated was 41m2, incorporating in each quadrant a portion of the platform of the enclosure, the ditch and the barely visible external bank, in addition to a small area of the surrounding field. The excavation confirmed that the enclosure was most rudimentary—a portion of ground around which a ditch was cut and the upcast neatly deposited immediately outside it, forming a low, narrow bank that may never have had an intentional function. There was no evidence at all that the platform was an artificial creation. It had not been levelled or built up in any way but was simply undisturbed natural topsoil, a compact, very dark brown clayey sand 0.08–0.1m deep, indistinguishable from the sod. Underlying it was shale mud typical of this limestone terrain.

The ditch was the only man-made feature of the enclosure distinguished during excavation. On removal of the topsoil the top of the ditch showed up as an irregularly shaped, slightly waterlogged shallow feature in each of the four cuttings. Those who made it did not dig down to bedrock but merely lifted the sod, cutting through somewhat into the shale mud that lies directly beneath the topsoil. That the ditch performed its function in keeping the platform area dry was particularly evident from the drier, peatier quality of the sod on the platform in Cutting 2. The external bank of the enclosure, which was considerably degraded and flattened out, did not show up during excavation.

The finds recovered from the enclosure suggest that it was at least in use, if not made, sometime in the 19th or early 20th century. The more significant contextual finds include a crumpled piece of modern, non-ferrous sheet metal retrieved at the base of the ditch fill in Cutting 2, and an iron fragment and a small piece of rubber or canvas found at the bottom of the ditch in Cutting 3. These provide the strongest evidence for the relatively recent origin of the enclosure. Additional finds include sherds of modern pottery, a badly oxidised modern iron nail and a small fragment of metal.

The archaeobotanical potential of six soil samples was assessed. There was no evidence of the presence of seaweed, marine molluscs or other marine material. With the exception of very small, frequent charcoal fragments from the platform of Cutting 2, the samples on the whole produced modern weed seeds and roots. The amount of charcoal present was not consistent with habitation, encampment or kelp-burning activity, and it was neither intensive nor extensive enough to register in a magnetic susceptibility survey (00R043) conducted on the enclosure in 2000.

Reference
O’Sullivan, A. and Sheehan, J. 1992 Fionnán enclosures: aspects of traditional land use in south Kerry. Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society 25, 5–15.