County: Donegal Site name: Owey Island
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Eoghan Kieran, Moore Marine Services, Corporate House, Ballybrit Business Park, Galway.
Site type: Underwater
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 571757m, N 922736m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 55.051326, -8.441967
A programme of underwater assessments was carried out at the site of a proposed new slipway at Owey Island, Cruit, Kincasslagh, Co. Donegal. The work was undertaken in August 2007 on behalf of Donegal County Council. Desktop analysis of the historical, archaeological and cartographic sources relating to the proposed development area recorded that this coastal stretch of County Donegal has been the site of human habitation since the Mesolithic period. Cartographic research did not record the presence of any archaeological features in the proposed development area.
The visual survey recorded the remains of a former pier crossing the foreshore along the line of the proposed slipway. These comprised the remains of a stone wall built two stones deep and surviving intermittently, to a maximum of two courses, c. 0.4m in height. The structural stones were bonded using cement, with the main body of the structure orientated north-west/south-east. The possible remains of a dogleg end were noted on the southern end.
The remains of a number of cement-filled sand bags were also noted lying directly on the foreshore. These were arranged in line with the base of the former pier and appeared to have acted as foundations on top of which the larger pier stones were placed. The extant remains were scarce and there was no datable material contained within the feature. The presence of cement-filled sand bags at the base, acting as foundation stones on the uneven foreshore, indicated that the feature was modern. This was further confirmed by cartographic analysis, which indicated that neither the first- nor the second-edition OS maps had any depiction of the pier in the area.
