County: Roscommon Site name: CREEVY, BALLAGHADERREEN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 13:20 Licence number: 04E1186
Author: Mary Henry, Mary Henry Archaeological Services Ltd, 17 Staunton Row, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 561935m, N 794856m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.901697, -8.579211
Testing was carried out pursuant to granted planning permission to construct ten dwelling houses and undertake associated site works. Within the development site there is a ringfort. However, there will be a buffer zone around the monument, with no building works occurring close to it.
A total of thirteen test-trenches were opened on the site. The area to the west of the ringfort had previously accommodated four vegetable gardens within living memory. This was reflected in the high-quality, humus-rich topsoil, the result of continuous applications of manure in addition to extensive working over a long period. Evidence for potato ridges and furrows were found. A field drain was also found. Nothing of earlier provenance than the late post-medieval period was discovered within the environs of the ringfort. If any outer concentric ditch had been constructed, it should have been located within the testing trenches in closest proximity.
To the east of the ringfort, the main component of the underlying stratigraphy proved to be peat.
