County: Galway Site name: KILCOOLY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1228
Author: Martin Jones
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 569611m, N 716641m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.199337, -8.454820
Testing was carried out at Kilcooly, Loughrea, Co. Galway, on 11 August 2003 at the proposed location of a single, detached dwelling-house, including its driveway, septic tank, etc.
The proposed development is very close to an Early Christian church (in ruins) and attached graveyard, a settlement cluster (clachan) and road (SMR 106:95(01, 02, 03, 04)). The monuments lie approximately 100m to the south. Kilcooly Castle (SMR 106:94) is located 250m to the west of the site.
Five trenches were mechanically excavated within the footprint of the house, access and parking and the percolation area. Trenches were 2.1m wide and between 9.4 and 22m in length.
Soil geology consisted of a dark-brown clay loam topsoil over an intermittent subsoil deposit of midbrown to orange silty clay containing limestone gravel. These sat above a sterile mid-grey to beige till containing a large amount of rough limestone gravel and large angular and subangular limestone boulders.
Two features were noted. Both took the form of narrow, shallow linear cuts, the first running in a north–south direction, the second running northeast/ south-west.
No diagnostic material was found in their fills and the features were interpreted as modern drainage channels. No finds of an archaeological nature were made during the course of testing.
6 Newgarden, Belclare, Tuam, Co. Galway