County: Mayo Site name: GLEN, Clare Island
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: CO27, E2017
Author: Joanna Nolan, Mayo County Council
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 470625m, N 784909m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.797634, -9.963867
Testing of the area of a proposed carpark on Clare Island adjacent to the national monument MA085–023(01), Grania Wael’s castle, and MA085–023(02), a possible promontory fort, was carried out on 24 and 25 October 2006. The proposed development area was a section of land situated immediately south-south-west of Grania Wael’s Castle just outside its current boundary wall; it measured c. 51m south-west/north-east by c. 23m.
The site had been levelled off about 25 years ago by its then owner to accommodate three sheds that occupied the site until recently. This levelling involved reducing the original ground level by about 3m along the south-south-west edge of the proposed development area. Local information suggests that there had been a pronounced downhill slope, which extended at least to the middle of the area. The removal of this portion of the hill, which overlooked the proposed carpark area from the south-south-west, created a steep scarp that cut deeply into natural on that edge and removed over half of the original topsoil on a good deal of this area. The clearing of the area 25 years ago has left little of the original ground on this site untouched.
The test-trenches, all 2m wide, were laid out as three, set parallel and 6m apart; these first three crossed the main area of the carpark from north-east to south-west. They ranged in length from 25m to 18m, depending on the outline of the carpark area. A fourth, 2m-wide, test-trench crossed a narrow 9m-wide extension to the carpark at the south-west corner; this trench was 27m long. These four trenches were dug by a small mechanical excavator using a toothless bucket.
As the spoil from the trenches was deposited it was scattered as a thin layer to allow examination by sifting with shovel and trowel. As the ground was dug up it became obvious that what was being excavated was largely natural sandy gravel and moraine material. A small area of organic beach sand in Trench I indicated where original ground surface survived. No archaeological material was revealed by this testing.
As requested in the ministerial consent, a 5m buffer zone between the current boundary wall of the castle and the proposed development was reserved. This buffer zone was marked clearly, no testing was carried out within it and it did not form part of the development.
Roadbridge Compound, Breaffey Road, Castlebar, Co. Mayo
