County: Clare Site name: BARNTICK
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1368
Author: Brian Halpin, for Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Building
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 533014m, N 672505m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.799383, -8.993342
Topsoil-stripping on the Bord Gáis Éireann Pipeline to the West uncovered a post-medieval feature lying on the gentle southern slope of a hill in the townland of Barntick, Co. Clare. A small area of a possible larger site was uncovered; the remaining area of this site ran beyond the limit of excavation in the adjacent field. The feature was the remains of a brick floor abutting a loose stone foundation wall. The flooring measured a maximum of 3.6m north–south by 2.7m. The platform suggests that the foundation and walls of the structure were constructed of stone and that a floor of brick set in a stretcher pattern had then been installed, either contemporary with the construction or at a later period. Numerous finds were recovered, including post-medieval ceramic, a metal buckle, numerous animal bones and an unidentified coin. The structure appeared to be aligned north–south, but its true extent and alignment, being outside the limit of excavation, could not be ascertained.
An associated pit, measuring 5.68m by 3.84m with a maximum depth of 0.54m, was found directly east of the stone foundations. The fill had finds contemporary with the brick foundation, and the feature did not have any known purpose except as a possible refuse pit. A larger feature, 2.3m to the south of the brick platform. also contained contemporaneous finds, but this feature probably resulted from unintentional domestic refuse deposition in a natural undulation.
The main structure lay on a thin layer, with a maximum depth of 0.2m, that covered the natural limestone bedrock, which the structure was partially built on. A section that was cut through the bricks and related features showed the bricks to be lying on a thin base of mortar directly overlying the subsoil. This mortar did not continue under the stone foundation. Because of the relatively small extent of the known site available for excavation, it is not yet understood whether this structure was a house, outbuilding or barn or served another function.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
