County: Clare Site name: CLARE/LIMERICK (Counties)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0119
Author: Ken Wiggins, for Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 529486m, N 679574m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.862453, -9.047165
Monitoring took place of topsoil-stripping and trenching for Phase 3 of the Bord Gáis Éireann Pipeline to the West, commencing at Cappaneasta, 4km north of Crusheen, Co. Clare, and finishing at Goatisland, 2km south of Bruff, Co. Limerick, a distance of 99km. In all, the pipeline route extended through 57 County Limerick townlands and 52 County Clare townlands. Topsoil-stripping and trenching-related construction continued between February and October 2002.
The route of the pipeline crossed the line of 79 roads, numbered 1 to 79 from north to south, dividing the full length of the pipeline into sections, varying in length from 100m to more than 3km. The sections themselves were numbered by road-crossing accordingly: from the start of Phase 3 at Cappaneasta, Co. Clare, to Road-crossing 1 was Section 0; from Road-crossing 1 to Road-crossing 2 was Section 1, and so on, until Section 78 reached its limit at Road-crossing 79, adjacent to the Goatisland above-ground installation.
Archaeological sites or potential sites were identified during topsoil-stripping and were demarcated by stakes and hazard tape, before full excavation under an individual licence by one of the project’s archaeologists. Sites or potential sites were all registered with a site code, incorporating the Pipeline to the West phase number (3), the section number derived from the nearest road-crossing to the north of the site, and the sequence of sites identified during monitoring within that section. For example, the site code for the fourth site identified between Road-crossings 66 and 67 is BGE 3/66/4.
The pipeline crossed the Shannon River between Leahys, c. 1.5km west of Foynes, Co. Limerick, and Shannakea Beg, c. 6km south-west of Kildysart, Co. Clare, involving dredging and other work along the riverbed over a distance of 2km. This element of the construction was monitored under a separate licence by Graham Hull (No. 1256, Excavations 2002).
In all, 188 excavation licences were issued during the work on Phase 3 of the gas pipeline. Of these, 111 were issued for sites or potential sites identified in 42 County Limerick townlands and 77 for sites or potential sites in 28 County Clare townlands. The licences were issued to: Graham Hull (60), Kate Taylor (47), Brian Halpin (40), Emer Dennehy (38), Ken Wiggins (2) and Emmet Byrnes (1). The reports on excavations carried out under these licences are given elsewhere in this volume.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
