County: Clare Site name: Derrygarriff 3
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A044; E3716
Author: Joe Nunan, IAC Ltd, 120B Greenpark Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 540362m, N 690480m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.961779, -8.887678
A burnt spread, Derrygarriff 3, was discovered on undulating scrubland in peat bog which is currently used as rough pasture in Derrygarriff townland in north County Clare.
This site consists of the western edge of a burnt mound. The whole mound is classically horseshoe-shaped and most of it lies outside the CPO. It measures 9m by 11m in total, and the excavated area within the CPO measured 20m by 20m. The burnt material was concentrated in the north-east of the site, measuring 8.5m by 10m (effectively the CPO encompasses the open end, or ‘arms’, of the burnt mound) and measured 0.77–0.15m in depth. The arms of the crescent mound are closed to the wettest part of the site. The burnt stone was sealed under peat topsoil and lay directly on top of natural yellow/grey loamy subsoil.
The site contained a pit, a possible drain and two troughs which were revealed following the removal of the burnt-stone-spread material. The drain was located within the section profile on the northern, west-facing, arm and situated outside the CPO; it measured 0.8m in width and 0.2m in depth and its length was undeterminable.
A small pit was located at the western edge of the mound material and was filled up with an organic peat layer. The peat had built up after the abandonment of the site. The pit measured 1.5m by 0.8m by 0.18m. A sub-oval trough was present at the western edge of the pit. It measured 3m by 2m by 0.5m and was orientated north–south; it was cut into the natural subsoil. The fills were a black, charcoal-enriched sandy silt with inclusions of heat-shattered stone (80%) and water, along with an upper peat deposit.
A second oval trough was excavated on the west edge of the mound; its full extent was not determined, as it extended eastwards (lengthways) outside of the CPO. It measured 1.6m (length) by 1.2m by 0.4m and was orientated north-west/south-east. Both pits had a sharp break of slope at the top that graded towards a rounded base. There were no finds associated with this excavation.
No other adjacent monuments or structures were found during excavation.
