County: Galway Site name: LOUGHBOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: GA087-177 Licence number: 03E1875
Author: Martin Jones, National Roads Design Office
Site type: Enclosure
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 581694m, N 728752m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.308731, -8.274678
The site of a ringfort in Loughbown lies on the route of the proposed N6 Galway to Ballinasloe road scheme. The site is in improved pasture. A sector of the bank is incorporated in the present field dyke, otherwise there are now no visible, standing, elements. The internal diameter of the enclosure is estimated at 20m. The proposed road will entirely destroy the site.
Two test-trenches were opened by hand. Trench 1 extended from the interior across part of the likely circuit of the former earthwork, in the south-east quadrant. Trench 2 was partly cut into the bank remnant in the west and extended from that point into the interior. In Trench 1, a section of the enclosing ditch was recorded. This was a round-bottomed cut, 1m deep by 2.2m wide. The lower fill contained quantities of medium and large angular stones. The upper fill contained a large amount of angular stones and some well-preserved wooden twigs. Shallow deposits of stony, redeposited mineral soils were found in the interior, but there was no clear evidence of occupation. In Trench 2, the surviving bank remnant was found to consist of dumped mineral soils—probably upcast subsoils—containing quantities of angular stones and gravel. Again, there was no evidence for occupation of the interior. Overall, it appears that most of the stony enclosing bank was levelled into the ditch in a recent episode of agricultural improvements; the interior was partly truncated and levelled in the same episode.
Two further trenches were opened on a sloping, scrub-covered knoll about 30m south of the former ringfort site to ascertain whether this had been used for associated extramural settlement, but no archaeological deposits or features were found. Further testing by machine will be conducted on the site prior to construction of the proposed road.
The present excavation was conducted by Galway County Council and funded by the National Roads Authority under the aegis of the National Development Plan 2002–2006.
Galway County Council
