2004:1486 - ABBEYTOWN, Sligo

Testing took place in October 2004 at an enclosure located 500m west of the village of Ballysadare. Construction of a pathway to allow community access through Harrington Concrete (Sligo) Ltd lands (east of a stone quarry at Abbeytown) to Ballysadare Bay and the ruins of a 13th-century abbey, SMR 20:108, impacted on a number of monuments: SMR 20:109(06), an enclosure, 20:109(07), possible middens and 20:109(02) a graveyard, all in the townland of Kilboglashy. Topsoil derived from the pathway construction was stored directly next to the enclosure 20:158. In addition, the construction of a playground area was proposed on the northern side of enclosure 20:159. The last two sites are in the townland of Abbeytown.

The testing required at Kilboglashy and Abbeytown was carried out as a single project. However, as five separately listed RMP sites were involved, testing was conducted under five excavation licences, one issued for each site. Details of the testing carried out at the other sites can be found elsewhere in this volume: Abbeytown, SMR 20:159 (No. 1487 below); Kilboglashy, 20:109(02) (No. 1525 below, 04E1470); Kilboglashy, 20:109(06) (No. 1526 below, 04E1471); and Kilboglashy, 20:109(07) (No. 1527 below, 04E1472).

Enclosure 20:158 is located c. 950m west of the newly constructed path at the Abbeytown quarry. However, topsoil derived from the construction was stored adjacent to the north-eastern quadrant of the enclosure and subsequently removed. Testing was required to ascertain the enclosure's original form, its state of preservation and if the storage of soil caused any damage. As this site will eventually be isolated on a column of ground surrounded by the quarry, an assessment was required to determine its significance with regard to the site's long-term preservation.

The enclosure is an impressive, well-preserved univallate ringfort. The internal diameter is c. 31m. Testing took the form of the excavation of three cuttings.

Cutting 1 was excavated by hand with some mechanical assistance. It was aligned north-east to south-west and was located across the surviving bank in the south-west quadrant of the enclosure. The bank has a surviving height of c. 1m, with a typical width of c. 4.1m. The earliest material exposed, predating the construction of the enclosure, was a moderately compact grey/brown silty clay containing some small stones. The layer was 0.4-0.6m deep and was deposited on the surface of the subsoil, which consisted of pale-grey silty clay. The enclosure bank consisted of soft, grey/brown silty clay containing small to medium and some large limestones. One small animal-bone fragment was found in this context. The bank material was slightly greyer and less compact than the underlying level. The bank survived up to 0.83m in height above the earlier surface by 5m wide.

The cut for the enclosure ditch was an estimated 1.1m deep from the surface of the subsoil by up to 5.5m wide. The base of the ditch could not be fully defined in the cutting for safety reasons. The lower fill of the ditch consisted of loose grey/brown silty clay containing numerous small to medium stones. This material had an excavated depth of c. 0.85m. The fill was sealed by a topsoil layer 0.4-0.7m deep. The estimated base level for the ditch was c. 2.2m lower than the surviving top of the bank.

Cutting 2 was excavated just inside the bank in the south-west quadrant of the enclosure, 1.7m northeast of the internal limit of Cutting 1, and was hand-excavated. The cutting measured 2m long (north-east/south-west) by 1.5m wide by up to 0.4m deep. The topsoil was fine grey/brown clay with some small to medium stones. The subsoil was pale-brown silty clay. There were no features, deposits or artefacts of archaeological significance.

Cutting 3 was aligned north-west to south-east and was located between 11m and 17m east of the boundary wall built along the eastern edge of the enclosure. It was mechanically excavated using a tracked mini-digger fitted with a 1.4m-wide flat-edged ditching bucket. The cutting was 30m long by 1.4m wide by up to 0.68 deep. There was very little topsoil in the cutting, consisting of dark-grey/brown clay up to 0.1m thick. Below this was a boulder clay layer c. 0.3m deep consisting of firm grey/brown silty clay. The substratum was loose pale-grey/brown silty clay containing a high volume of gravel and medium to large limestone rocks. There were no features, deposits or artefacts of archaeological significance.

The excavation of Cutting 1 aimed to profile the composition of the bank and to define the limits and depth of its associated outer ditch, and Cutting 2 tested a small area of the interior. Given the scale of the enclosing bank, a surrounding ditch of considerable size was expected, and the test excavation confirms that the ditch is a large feature. No archaeological features were uncovered in Cutting 2 within the enclosed area, but a larger investigation would undoubtedly reveal features, deposits and artefacts contemporary with settlement at the site. The ground surface and the bank profile were restored following the excavation of the test cuttings. Cutting 3 indicated an absence of in situ material of archaeological significance in the area east of the monument where topsoil was recently stored. At present a 50m-wide buffer zone protects the enclosure from activity related to the quarry.