County: Roscommon Site name: Rathpeak
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: A034, E2826
Author: Bruce Sutton, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd, Brehon House, Kilkenny Road, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny.
Site type: Early modern vernacular farm complex
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 591324m, N 730773m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.327145, -8.130226
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.
Four hand-excavated trenches were opened (with a total area of 21m2) at the site of a vernacular farm complex. Trenches 1 and 4 revealed the possible remains of an enclosure or collapsed wall. Trench 2 revealed the remains of a rectilinear structure within an enclosing curvilinear collapsed wall. Trench 3 revealed natural subsoil entirely absent of any archaeological features. Finds recovered from Trenches 1, 2 and 4 appeared to be general domestic and habitation-related debris dating from the late 18th or 19th century.
The building complex is situated in the north-eastern corner of a gently undulating field flanked with drystone field boundaries. The complex is depicted on the first-edition OS map (1851) as part of the Rathpeak House Estate. Here numerous buildings are shown associated with the main house and serviced by several roads.
Several 18th–19th-century finds were recovered during testing. These included three ferrous square nails, animal bone, blue slipware pottery and a clay-pipe fragment.
This site will be further investigated during Phase 2 excavations in 2007.
