County: Clare Site name: BALLAGHFADDA EAST
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1369
Author: Brian Halpin, for Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 534098m, N 674063m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.813514, -8.977572
Topsoil-stripping of Bord Gáis Éireann’s Pipeline to the West revealed an irregular mound of large stones in a disturbed context in Ballaghfadda East townland in County Clare. The mound measured 6.4m east–west by 9.2m. Two large box-sections were excavated.
Numerous finds were recovered from the uppermost fills in what appeared to be a modern stone dump covering an area of 6.9m south-east/north-west by 5.82m. These included a clay pipe and fragments of metal. However, underneath this modern fill was a charcoal-rich layer that produced several finds of prehistoric nature, including lithics and two pieces of what appeared to be slag. This layer did not appear to be much disturbed, and therefore its location is coincidental with the much later stone dump.
Work ceased at the limit of excavation for the pipeline corridor, and therefore final dimensions of the dump will not be known. Nothing of a structural nature was noted.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
