2005:611 - GORTYMADDEN, Galway

A test excavation was carried out across a single field enclosure at Gortymadden, Co. Galway, as part of a series of site investigations prior to work commencing on the New Inn to Tynagh natural gas pipeline. The field systems were discovered during the initial phase of field-walking by the Archaeological Services Unit in 2003 and are located c. 2 miles north-west of the former Tynagh Mines complex. They lie within a narrow strip of rough grazing land and do not extend into two adjoining properties on the north and south where the fields have been enlarged and boundaries have been removed. The route of the pipeline had a direct impact on just one of the field systems and a section was excavated where the pipe trench cut through the bank. A number of denuded stone walls are also present in the field and the stratigraphic relationship between these and the linear earthen features could be established, as a stone-built wall at the eastern end of the field was clearly built over the predominantly earthen constructed banks.

A section was cut across the field enclosure in order to ascertain the method of construction and to recover some dating evidence. This showed that the feature consisted of a single bank made up predominantly of earth but with frequent large stones, most of which occurred at the top of the bank. The bank survived to a height of 1.12m and there was no evidence for a ditch on either side. The subsoil underlying the bank consisted of mixed orange/light-brown stony boulder clay. Nothing of archaeological importance was uncovered during the excavation and no dating evidence was advanced.