County: Clare Site name: CAPPAGH BEG (BGE 3/12/1)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1514
Author: Emer Dennehy, for Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 537693m, N 681718m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.882739, -8.925717
This site was exposed during the monitoring of topsoil-stripping along the route of the Bord Gáis Éireann Pipeline to the West (Section 3: Goatisland, Co. Limerick, to Gort, Co. Galway).
Eleven contexts were identified, revealing evidence of a single phase of use during which three features were excavated and functioned in conjunction with each other.
Pit 1 measured 1.9m north–south by 1.3m by 0.38m deep. The eastern limit proceeded outside the limit of the wayleave and was not excavated in full. The gully connected Pit 1 to the stream and was severely truncated. It was 8.7m long, with an average depth of 0.05m and a maximum of 0.18m. Pit 2, 0.5m to the south, measured 3.02m north–south by 1.8m and was 0.51m deep. This, the larger and deeper of the pits, had a natural spring in the base.
All three features contained the same basal fill consisting of a high percentage of burnt limestone in a black clay–silt matrix with a moderate amount of charcoal, indicating that all three functioned together. The high percentage of limestone in the features indicates that their function was industrial rather than in food production, a conclusion compounded by the use of lime in the bleaching of textiles. Pit 2 had a clean water supply and would therefore have been ideal for rinsing textiles.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
