2002:1640 - SALTPORT, Carrowncreevy, Sligo

Monitoring took place of an extension to a thatched cottage near the south shore of Ballisodare Bay, at Carrowncreevy, Beltra. The name ‘Saltport’ is a local one, possibly associated with a warehouse at sea level just a few hundred metres from the cottage. There is an enclosure, SMR 19:54, to the south-west, and a ringfort, SMR 19:55, to the east.

A fulacht fiadh, SMR 19:206, is wrongly indicated on the SMR map. Its correct position is north of the thatched cottage, not south of it as marked. Black soil and burnt stones were exposed in the edge of a drain to the east of the cottage, 70m from the house extension.

A mechanical digger was used. Beneath the paving stones or the sod were spreads of gravel, presumably from the construction of the cottage. Under the gravel was the undisturbed, orange/ brown, natural ground at a depth of 0.25m. There were no archaeological deposits or finds.

There is a garden to the north-west of the cottage bounded by a stone wall; this was an orchard in 1837. This wall was breached for the sewage line, which was dug for a length of 25m from the edge of the proposed extension and to a depth of 0.6m. From this point three further long trenches were opened for the percolation area.

Immediately inside the garden wall there were some oyster, mussel and cockle shells, modern china, red brick and slate, all intermixed with the topsoil. These items were present for a distance of only 4m from the garden wall and probably relate to the occupation of the cottage. This location is beside a coastline dotted with shell middens ranging in date from the Neolithic to the modern period. From 4m out, the rest of the cuts for piping were through sterile soil; the upper layer was sandy in texture and colour, and in the lower layer the soil was browner.

Bóthar an Chorainn, Keash, Co. Sligo