2007:158 - Cratloekeel, Clare

An impact assessment was carried out as part of a further information request for a proposed quarry development site at Cratloekeel, Co. Clare. The development is 4.82ha in area and will include the extension of a quarry/borrow pit in order to extract stone fill for the construction of the Limerick south ring road scheme. It is also proposed to construct a temporary haul road.
Conditions during testing were dry and bright and a large tracked excavator fitted with a 2m-wide toothless bucket was employed to open eight trenches. The location of the eight trenches was established with consideration for the footprint of the proposed development and the location of the surrounding archaeological features. The eight trenches were excavated in an east–west direction across the site. The first three were located north of the old quarry and the soil profiles were consistent within the three trenches. The other five trenches were located to the south of the old quarry across a ridge that runs approximately north–south across the proposed development site. Bedrock was encountered throughout the excavations of Trenches 4 and 5. Trenches 6, 7 and 8 revealed bedrock throughout the central areas, with the orange/brown subsoil common throughout the site found at the eastern and western ends. There was nothing of archaeological significance evident within any of the test-trenches opened across the site. The area contained such a significant amount of bedrock that the potential to find archaeology was limited.