County: Roscommon Site name: Liberty
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: A034, E2824
Author: Bruce Sutton, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd, Brehon House, Kilkenny Road, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny.
Site type: Mound – no archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 595768m, N 734106m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.357155, -8.063560
Archaeological assessment on the proposed route of the N6 Ballinasloe to Athlone road scheme involved targeted test excavation of selected areas lying within the proposed road-take. Work was commissioned by Galway County Council and the National Roads Design Office and sponsored by the National Roads Authority. Testing here was of an isolated mound or cairn, in a lowland setting, which is to be destroyed during the course of the construction.
Two trenches were excavated by hand into the accessible areas of the possible cairn. Testing showed that the mound was composed of natural soil and drain upcast with large boulders placed on top. It was decided that the boulders were too large to move by hand and that during centreline testing in this area the boulders would be moved and the mound tested by machine. The discovery of a golf ball beneath one of the boulders during this later testing confirmed the earlier hypothesis of a natural mound with modern field clearance boulders on top.
Nothing of archaeological significance was uncovered during the excavation.
