2007:632 - Greethill, Galway

Phase 1 investigations and townland boundary surveys commissioned by Galway County Council and the National Roads Authority were undertaken along the 27.2km N18 Oranmore to Gort (Glenbrack to Rathmorrissey) national road scheme. Testing was carried out between September and December 2007. This area was identified in the environmental impact statement as one that would require hand-testing to ascertain the existence and extent of any archaeological features, deposits or finds.
An area of scrub, 6m by 8m, was cleared by hand off the top and sides of the structure at Greethill. It was almost D-shaped, 8m long (north-east/south-west) by 6m wide and up to 1.8m high. Two test-trenches totalling 10m2 were inserted. The structure was built to at least seven courses of drystone walling, 1–2m in thickness, with a depression in the centre, giving it the impression of the outer walls of a small building. No sign of a doorway or any other structural details were identified. Finds from the second trench excavated established that the stone fill of the cairn was no older than the middle of the 20th century and therefore non-archaeological. While it cannot be said that the wall within which the fill lay was not a different, earlier, structure, the absence of any form of foundation suggests that it was probably contemporary with the stone fill and was built specifically to retain the latter. No features, finds or deposits of archaeological significance were identified and it was established that the structure is likely to be a modern field-clearance structure.