County: Mayo Site name: BALLYNEW
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0650
Author: Finn Delaney, Dominic Delany & Associates
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 517042m, N 792211m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.872696, -9.261484
Excavations at a development site in Ballynew, Co. Mayo, took place on 24 May 2004. The site is located c. 2.5km to the north-east of Castlebar on a small byroad close to the Castlebar River. The development site is located 45m to the north of an ecclesiastical site (SMR 78:6) and there are three enclosures within 300m (SMR 69:12, 69:14 and 69:15).
Five trenches were excavated in the area of the proposed development. Nothing of archaeological significance was noted in Trenches 2–5. One possible archaeological feature was encountered across the site of the proposed dwelling house in Trench 1. The feature was encountered at 0.6m below the ground surface and was cut into the underlying natural subsoil. It was 0.55m wide and 0.5m deep.
It was suggested that topsoil-stripping across the proposed dwelling site should take place in advance of construction to ascertain the extent of the possible archaeological feature and to determine its significance. The area stripped measured 10m east-west by 17m. The feature terminated 1m from the northern end of the stripped area and ran into the western side of the area 5.5m from the north-western corner. The depth of topsoil across the stripped area varied from west to east. Along the western and northern sides of the area the mid-brown silty clay topsoil was up to 0.7m deep and in the south-eastern corner it was 0.5m deep. The underlying subsoil was an orange silty clay with occasional medium-sized stones mixed throughout. In the south-east corner of the stripped area the topsoil was underlain by shattered stone similar to that encountered in Trenches 3, 4 and 5 during the pre-development testing.
One feature was noted running north-east/southwest across the stripped area. It was cut into the natural subsoil and was 0.8–0.9m wide and 13.6m long. The feature tapered to a point at its southwestern end. It ran parallel to Feature 1, noted in the original Trench 1. The feature had a grey/brown silty clay fill and runs along the flat ground at the base of the west-facing slope across the site. The compact fill was similar in both features and they were both probably hand-cut drainage features running across the flat ground at the base of a west-facing slope.
Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway
