County: Roscommon Site name: COOTEHALL
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 7:15 Licence number: 05E1435
Author: Dominic Delany, Dominic Delany & Associates, Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway.
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 589636m, N 803889m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.984169, -8.158007
Pre-development testing was carried out on the site of a proposed housing development at Cootehall, Co. Roscommon, on 19 and 20 December 2005. The village of Cootehall is situated on the eastern side of Oakport Lough on the River Boyle. Cootehall Castle, located on the summit of a gentle eminence, gives the village its name. The proposed development site is a large triangular-shaped greenfield area in the middle of the village. Monuments in the vicinity of the proposed development site include the castle, located 120m to the north-west, and Cootehall ringfort (SMR 7:18), located 90m to the north-east.
A tracked excavator fitted with a wide grading bucket was deployed to open eight trenches on the footprint of the proposed development. Trenches 1–3 were located in the eastern part of the site and averaged 100m in length. The field surface in this area was very irregular due to rock outcrop. The topsoil had an average thickness of 0.2m and overlay rock outcrop and subsoil. Trenches 4–8 were located in the southern part of the development site and had an average length of 150m. The field surface in this part of the site was relatively level and no rock outcrop was visible on the surface. Again the topsoil averaged 0.2m in thickness and generally overlay the subsoil. Occasional rock outcrop was uncovered close to the surface at the east end of the trenches. No archaeological material was uncovered.
