2005:141 - CRATLOEMOYLE, Clare

The excavation revealed from west to east: a house site, pits, a boundary ditch, a limekiln and a human burial.
The house remains were very badly preserved and were truncated on the north-eastern side. Three sides of the house were visible: the northern and part of the western and eastern. The fourth side lay under the fence which ran along the southern boundary of the site. The outline of the building was visible as a mortar/lime deposit which was found in a shallow cut (external dimensions 7.5m by min. 3.5m).

There were occasional fragments of limestone and red bricks in the mortar deposit, suggesting that some brick and limestone were used in the house’s construction. Brick was often used in chimneys. The scarcity of building material uncovered suggests that the structure was either robbed-out, completely bulldozed away or had not been constructed entirely of stone. It is likely that it was a stone and mud construction. The building is not marked on the first- or third-edition OS maps and is of unknown date.

Three very shallow deposits in three depressions were found. There was evidence of burning in all three cases, as the underlying natural deposits were scorched red. A subcircular pit measuring 0.5–0.47m across was also excavated. The pit did not show any evidence of burning.

A north–south-aligned ditch was investigated. A 20m length of ditch was exposed within the excavated area, although the feature continued in both directions. The ditch was up to 1.8m wide and 0.36m deep. There was some evidence that there had been a bank to the west of the ditch that had collapsed into a linear feature on the western side. It seems likely that a bank was built on the western side of the ditch with the material dug from the ditch and the linear depression. Stone had been incorporated into the bank or had been placed in its western face.

A limekiln was partially excavated, as part of it continued into the northern baulk, 40m to the south-west of Cratloemoyle tower-house at the western end of the site. The stone structure of water-rolled, fine-grained stone of various sizes and roughly hewn limestone was set in a cut and had two opposing, lintelled, flared flues. Smaller rounded stones were used to line the bowl of the kiln, one-stone thick. The upper section of the kiln was constructed from roughly hewn limestone on the inner and outer faces, with smaller packing stones forming a rubble core. This section survived as two courses on the south side and one course at the west. Some of the rounded sandstones used in the western flue had been split. Lime was found in the base of the kiln over a brick flue. The upper part of the kiln was filled with rubble and glass bottles.

The extended, supine inhumation of an adult male was excavated to the east of the limekiln. The burial was oriented east–west. The individual was 169.8m629mm tall, aged between 26 and 35 years, and had suffered rickets as a child. The condition had caused the slight bowing of the arm and leg bones, indicating that he was afflicted while he was of crawling age. Evidence was found for tooth disease, as one tooth had caries and one an abscess. Degenerative joint disease in some of the backbones had been caused by heavy labour or lifting. He had also received a blow to the left side of his head that had completely healed before death (analysis by Linda Fibiger).

Post-excavation work is ongoing and so further discussion is not possible at present.

Wood Road, Cratloekeel, Co. Clare and Ahish, Ballinruan, Crusheen, Co. Clare