County: Donegal Site name: CROAGHONAGH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E1159
Author: Sinclair Turrell, ADS Ltd, Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Dublin 3.
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 607526m, N 888941m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.748438, -7.883103
Test excavation was conducted at this site in advance of the proposed N15 Ballybofey–Stranorlar bypass. This site is located adjacent to the disused railway in a field of unimproved pasture on a hillside that slopes gently downwards to the north. A north–south-running low bank of large limestone slabs, overgrown with mosses and grass, was identified as a possible pre-bog wall in the EIS (AAP9). The wall survives aboveground for a distance of c. 35m and is on average 0.8m wide and 0.3m high. The site was characterised by a system of ‘lazy beds’, which are visible on both sides of the road, indicating that the field was cultivated in the past.
Fourteen trenches were excavated across the site using a mechanical excavator fitted with a toothless bucket. Nine stone-lined drains were uncovered. These drains appeared to be associated with the construction of the railway. One of the drains ran under the possible pre-bog wall, indicating that these stones were marking the line of the drain. Nothing of archaeological significance was found within the limits of the test excavation.
