County: Mayo Site name: GORTAROE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E1130
Author: Susan McCabe and Eoghan Kieran, Moore Group
Site type: Fulacht fia and Cremation pit
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 500513m, N 785413m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.808725, -9.510541
Monitoring was carried out at Gortaroe, Westport, Co. Mayo, in November/December 2004. The site lies on the north-western fringe of the town, adjacent to the existing Allergan pharmaceutical plant. It comprises 15.15ha of pasture on a smooth west-facing spur of glacial deposits, which drops sharply to small streams to the south and north-west. The proposed development involves the construction of a business and technology park, including road and sewer infrastructure and landscaping. The development is in the vicinity of SMR 88:5, an enclosure, 88:6, a potential site, 88:12, an enclosure, and 88:13, a graveyard. Other sites that recently came to light in advance of the construction of the Westport sewerage scheme include five fulachta fiadh and a Neolithic house, all of which were excavated just outside the site boundary.
This current phase of work was commissioned as a result of recommendations following a testing programme carried out by Tom Rogers in January 2003 (Excavations 2003, No. 1327, 03E0121) and an excavation undertaken in August 2004 (No. 1149, Excavations 2004, 04E1130). The testing, undertaken in conjunction with a magnetometry survey, exposed two areas of burnt material to the north-west of the site on the leeward slope of a hill. The features were described as consisting of 'burnt material with fire-cracked stones and charcoal'. Both areas were at a similar topographical level and it was suggested that they probably represent fulachta fiadh. The excavation programme investigated these features further and concluded that fulachta fiadh were present, with the absence of any trough or construction features noted (see No. 1149, Excavations 2004).
Work was carried out on site over a three-week period ending on 8 December. Four further sites of potential archaeological significance were identified. These included a possible fulacht fiadh and several areas of isolated burnt material on the southern slope of the hill. In addition, at the highest part of the hill, an area of undiagnostic burning adjacent to several relict field boundaries was identified. Finally, to the north-east of this, an area believed to contain multiple cremation burial pits was revealed.
Corporate House, Ballybrit Business Park, Ballybrit, Co. Galway
