County: Sligo Site name: CARROWMORE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0943
Author: Mary Henry
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 568882m, N 833082m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.245647, -8.477435
Two potential archaeological sites were tested at Carrowmore, Co. Sligo. The works were carried out as part of pre-construction testing on the Sligo Inner Relief Road. Both sites were tested under the one licence as they were sited near each other in the one field.
The first site was identified as a quarry on the first edition OS map (1837). It consists of a semicircular depression, c. 50m in diameter, in a very gentle east-sloping meadow. Three trenches were opened on the site. Nothing was uncovered to indicate that it was of any archaeological interest.
No archaeological features or remains were uncovered in two of the test-trenches. Although naturally deposited seams of gravel were uncovered in both trenches there was no evidence to suggest that the area had been quarried, as indicated on the OS map. In the third trench opened, two cuts or pits were revealed. One of the pits had been filled predominantly with small broken pieces of limestone. There was nothing found to indicate a date for the pit or indeed its original function. The second cut, a likely drain, was only partially exposed as it extended beyond the southern limit of the trench. There was no evidence for quarrying in the trench.
The second site tested consisted of a circular feature with an average diameter of 25m just to the north of the quarry site. Its configuration consisted of a very slight elevation on the surface of the field. A series of test-trenches were opened to determine whether the site was of archaeological significance. The features of interest included a linear cut extending through two of the trenches. It was determined that the cut was the remains of a hedge boundary ditch. A number of cultivation furrows and a drain were revealed. Spreads of gravel were revealed in two of the trenches. The spreads were of relatively modern date as they sealed cultivation furrows. A flint flake and two pieces of chert were found. The chert was found in one of the gravel spreads and the flint in the fill of the linear cut.
No archaeological features, deposits or structures were uncovered to suggest that the site was of archaeological interest.
24 Queen Street, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary
