County: Roscommon Site name: TADUFF EAST/TADUFF WEST
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A034, E2899
Author: Tamás Péterváry, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd.
Site type: Linear earthwork
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 597873m, N 739408m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.404815, -8.031981
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 of the Taduff West/Taduff East townland boundary was recommended in the EIS for the scheme. A 26m-long machine-cut trench was excavated using a 2m-wide grading bucket.
The townland boundary at Taduff West/Taduff East took the form of a north–south-running ditch and bank. The ditch was 2.5m in width and 1m deep with an intermittent raised bank (maximum 1m in height) along its eastern edge. The ditch cut was U-shaped in section with a relatively flat base. The bank was of large uncoursed and randomly deposited limestone boulders within a single soil matrix and overgrown with mature thorn bushes and trees. No finds were made during testing works.
The same townland boundary line can be seen on the first-edition (1851) OS maps (OS 51a–2). The straightness of the townland boundary as a whole led the testing team to consider that the boundary was relatively modern.
Brehon House, Kilkenny Road, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny
