County: Westmeath Site name: GA2, GARRANE/RATHGARRETT
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E1097
Author: Laurence McGowan, 27 Lindenwood Park, Foyle Springs, Derry, for Cultural Resource Development Services Ltd.
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 643111m, N 738468m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.394612, -7.351813
This work was undertaken as part of a programme of testing ahead of the proposed realignment of the N6 Dublin-Galway carriageway. The site is one of sixteen sites of archaeological potential identified during the compilation of an EIS. It is situated in the centre of a field that is currently in pasture on the south-west-facing slope of a low hill at Chainage point 40,200m.
The site was identified by Markus Casey during the 2002 aerial survey of the proposed road corridor and described as one of 'at least five small circular features... all about 4m in diameter and have a slightly dished centre'.
The site is comprised of a small subcircular hollow near a blackthorn tree. The eastern and southeastern edges of the hollow are marked by a shallow scarp before the ground level drops by c. 2m and continues gently downslope to the southern boundary of the field. A series of trenches were excavated in the area, investigating both the central hollow and the low scarp that marked the edge of the site. No archaeological activity was uncovered. The slight scarp that had been visible in the eastern part of the site is a geological feature.
