County: Galway Site name: CLOGHAREVAUN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A024/19, E2056
Author: Brendon Wilkins, Headland Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 558059m, N 724429m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.268542, -8.628716
Excavation was carried out in advance of construction of the N6 Galway to Ballinasloe road scheme; the site was located near the Clogharevaun Castle tower-house and 1km from Kiltullagh, Co. Galway. Testing by Tom Janes in 2005 (Excavations 2005, No. 576), supported by archaeological geophysics, highlighted the possibility of ditches, field boundaries and trackways. The nearby river had been realigned; there were visible earthworks including ridge-and-furrow cultivation and a fulacht fiadh was observed as a horseshoe-shaped mound.
Excavation was divided into six areas. A shallow bank was concluded to be related to the nearby esker. Another bank was likely to have been flood defence. A double bank on the other side of the river was also considered to have been flood defence. The burnt mound was 12m by 11m in width and 0.2m in depth, with a trough 2.8m by 1.6m and 0.27m deep that would have filled with water when the river ran in the previous course. Test-pits located over embankments and the ridge and furrow revealed little.
The above work was made possible as a result of funding and cooperation from Galway County Council and the National Roads Authority.
Unit 1, Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork
