2003:2203 - FARRANABLAKE EAST, Galway

Two test-trenches were opened by hand at the site of a ringfort in Farranablake East on the proposed N6 Galway to Ballinasloe road scheme. The proposed roadway will remove the northern 30% of the site. The trenches were conjoined to form a T shape across the interior and part of the bank, extending into the adjacent pasture field beyond.

The enclosing bank consisted of small to very large angular stones in a thin matrix of dark humic loam. The bank overlay a shallow deposit of midbrown sandy clay containing a large amount of gravel and small stones over a glacial till. No external ditch was discovered.

In the interior was a linear stony mound in a thin matrix of mid-brown sandy clay loam. The mound was approximately 12m long (north-northwest/ south-south-east), 4.4m wide and 0.6m high. It overlay the same sandy clay with gravel that underlay the bank. Internal divisions are common in ringforts in County Galway. These are probably secondary features designed to facilitate livestock handling, though no definitive function could be established in this case and the feature was not dated.

A small cut feature was also noted in the interior, east of the stony mound. This was an irregular east–west cut with a shallow base. The full horizontal extent of the cut was not established. The fills were assorted mineral soils with no obvious occupation inclusions. No function could be established.

No features or deposits were found in the interior to explicitly indicate occupation and no diagnostic material was found to date the monument or distinguish it as a ringfort rather than, for example, a ringwork.

Further investigation will be undertaken in advance of the construction of the road. The present excavation was conducted by Galway County Council and was funded by the National Roads Authority under the aegis of the National Development Plan 2002–2006.

Galway County Council