2006:1448 - DRUMSHINNAGH, Mayo

Excavation took place at the site of a windmill at Drumshinnagh, Castlebar, Co. Mayo. This monument lay wholly within the acquisition line of the Newport road realignment scheme (see Excavations 2005, No. 1118, and see No. 1419, Excavations 2006).

The windmill site is located on the top of Drumshinnagh Hill (59m OD) with expansive views of the local topography. The site is marked on the first-edition OS map as a windmill stump and also on Bald’s map of The Maritime County of Mayo (1830). The extant remains of the site were a grass-covered circular mound, c. 15m in diameter and c. 0.3m high, at the centre of a horseshoe-shaped enclosure linked to a field boundary and a narrow overgrown trackway running up to the windmill site from the south.

Excavation revealed the remains of a circular basal surface of fist-sized cobbles within lime mortar c. 6m in diameter located on the natural underlying boulder clay. This compact deposit represented the foundation level of the windmill. No direct evidence for the walls of the windmill survived. It would appear that walls were built directly on top of this prepared compact surface. There was no evidence for any foundation trenches cut into the ground. Although recorded in the 1830s as a stump, suggesting that at least part of the structure survived, local informants indicated that the surviving masonry of the windmill had been robbed out gradually in recent decades. The evidence for this process survived in the form of two low concentric heaps of masonry material (c. 0.3m high and c. 0.6m apart) including packing stones and lime mortar. This material appears to be the residue systematically dumped to either side as the walls of the windmill were robbed out.

Above the basal foundation level, a central raised area of rubble and lime mortar (c. 3.5m in diameter) survived. This surface is the remains of the internal floor of the windmill. No evidence for a finished flag surface was found. It is likely that this select stone would have been plundered soon after the windmill was abandoned. A north–south-oriented cobbled path was discernible running across the floor surface. A common feature of windmills of this period is diametrically opposed entrances to allow safe access while the sails are in motion. This path marks the opposing access points to the building.

Beyond the footprint of the windmill a D-shaped deposit of cobbles was located between the windmill and the enclosing horseshoe-shaped bank. This surface curved around the western, northern and eastern sides of the windmill. It narrowed and straightened at the southern side of the site. This deposit of stone measured 1.5–3m in width and ran to within c. 2m of the windmill. This feature is possibly the wheel path used to turn the wooden crown of the windmill to face the sails into the wind.

The windmill and wheel path were enclosed by a horseshoe-shaped stone and earthen bank (0.5–1m in height) located c. 6m from the excavated foundation level of the windmill. The bank was made up of an irregular core of large stones covered with earth. A shallow internal ditch was located at the foot of the enclosing bank and mirrored its horseshoe shape. It measured 0.6–0.8m wide and was 0.4–0.6m deep.

A series of shallow post-holes (0.25–0.6m in diameter) and a number of pits were found dug into boulder clay at the crest of the hill beneath the foundation levels of the windmill. These were filled with a mix of soil and charcoal. The most substantial feature was a deeper central pit, c. 1.2m in diameter and c. 0.6m deep. It was filled with burnt sandstone and charcoal. Samples taken from these features are being processed for archaeobotanical remains and charcoal remains for dating. These features may represent an earlier period of activity on this hilltop.

A range of finds was recovered, including a variety of metal objects, ceramic and glass sherds, clay-pipe fragments, burnt bone, animal bone and some possible lithic fragments.

Coosan, Athlone, Co. Westmeath