County: Clare Site name: KEELTY (Site AR130)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0030
Author: Kate Taylor, TVAS Ireland Ltd.
Site type: Midden
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 532049m, N 677296m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.842316, -9.008643
This excavation on the N18 Ennis bypass found a late 19th/early 20th-century refuse dump. The dumped material may have been burnt on site and this caused underlying stones to crack and clay to oxidise. The fact that the stones overlay a field drain demonstrates that the burnt-stone deposit was modern and certainly could not have had a prehistoric origin as was suspected at the time of testing. The deposit was in a field that was liable to flood and it is therefore likely that, if the burning was of any antiquity, it would have been sealed by alluvium.
The relatively high status of the refuse (fine china, writing slate, window glass) might suggest rubbish from a wealthy household. A prime candidate for the source of the dumped material would be The Hermitage, home of the land agent Keane family in the 19th century.
Ahish, Ballinruan, Crusheen, Co. Clare
