County: Galway Site name: Coololla
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: E002447
Author: John Tierney, Eachtra Archaeological Projects, Ballycurreen Industrial Estate, Kinsale Road, Cork.
Site type: Mill/forge
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 578524m, N 728706m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.308201, -8.322232
This was one of several excavations undertaken for Galway County Council and the National Roads Authority which form part of a wider excavation programme undertaken within c. 15 km of the proposed N6 Galway to Ballinasloe dual carriageway scheme (Contract 4).
An area of c. 400m2 was stripped of ploughsoil. The area was then hand cleaned. The archaeology consisted of a rectangular stone structure with an associated millrace and tail-race. There was no artefact assemblage from this site.
The stone structure was situated at a low point in an area of gently undulating to low-lying pastoral plains, with limestone outcrops to the north-east of Aughrim village. The building is situated alongside the Melehan River which flows through Aughrim.
While only the foundations of the building remain, they are sufficiently well preserved to identify different functional areas within. Post-excavation discussion of the site has raised the possibility that the structure may represent the remains of a water-powered forge, as opposed to the mill building that was originally hypothesised.
