County: Roscommon Site name: Annaghbeg
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 06E1043
Author: Bernard Guinan, Coosan Athlone, Co. Westmeath
Site type: Testing
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 590547m, N 782209m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.789365, -8.143453
Pre-development testing was conducted as part of an assessment in advance of the construction of a slatted shed within the area of archaeological constraint of RO023–151, a rath, at Annaghbeg, Strokestown, Co. Roscommon. The proposed development site is located on low poached pastureland at the rear of a farmyard. South and east of the development site the land improves, developing to well-drained pasture.
The existing slatted shed was built in the last ten years, the construction of which resulted in the levelling of most of the rath. A very small surviving portion of the bank and ditch of the rath is visible incorporated into a field boundary at the rear of the shed. The landowner has constructed a concrete block wall which mirrors the curvature of the bank.
Two machine-cut test-trenches were excavated across the proposed development site. Trenches I and II were 1.5m wide by 25m long and orientated north–south. Each trench was excavated stratigraphically using a Hitachi EX 60 equipped with a toothless bucket. The stratigraphy of the site was quite uniform: thin topsoil rested on a compact boulder clay. The exception to this pattern was found at the northern end of Trench II beside the existing farmyard, where some redeposited material from previous construction work was evident.
No archaeological finds or features were uncovered during testing. A number of modern ceramic sherds and an iron mowing machine part were found in the test-trenches within topsoil.
.
