County: Galway Site name: ARDAMULLIVAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 128:3 Licence number: 01E0770 ext.
Author: Fiona Rooney, Arch. Consultancy Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 544329m, N 695663m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.008782, -8.829527
Ardamullivan tower-house, Gort, is currently being restored, and monitoring of the laying of an electrical cable from the N18 road to the interior of the tower-house was required. In 2001 the mechanical excavation of a narrow trench, to facilitate the laying of cables within c. 10m of the north-east corner of the building, was also monitored (Excavations 2001, No. 478). The second stage of the project involved the manual excavation of a narrow trench that ran from the exterior of the tower-house in the north-east for c. 20m along the east wall of the building, extending beneath the entrance doorway to the guardroom chamber on the north side of the entrance passage.
The stratigraphy encountered in the area to the north-east of the tower-house consisted of topsoil overlying an orange/brown, clayey subsoil. The only finds from this trench were occasional 20th-century glass fragments. The area adjacent to a stone structure contained a rubble layer consisting of occasional, large, uncut stones directly below the topsoil. The passage between the structure in the east and the entrance to the tower-house was excavated to a maximum depth of 0.4–0.45m. This required the removal of a socketed stone in the east, which once functioned as a pivot stone for a gate. The stone will be reinserted in its original position when the cable has been laid. The stratigraphy along this section of the trench was similar to elsewhere; however, outcropping bedrock layers were encountered close to the surface. The bedrock, uncovered at a depth of 0.15m, was broken to facilitate the excavation of a trench. The central jambstone of the entrance doorway was removed, and a trench was excavated along the entrance passage and beneath the door jamb of the guardroom chamber in the north.
In recent years a floor of Liscannor stone slabs had been laid on top of a concrete surface, which in turn lay on top of the original ground level in the interior of the tower-house. The excavation in this area involved the removal of the stone slabs and the concrete surface; however, the original ground level of the building was disturbed for a depth of only 0.05–0.1m. The trench continued into the guardroom chamber in the north, where it was excavated to a maximum depth of 0.2m.
No artefacts or features of archaeological significance were encountered during the monitoring.
Ballydavid South, Athenry, Co. Galway
