2007:1487 - CLOONFAD, Roscommon

The site of the proposed development in the townland of Cloonfad is located on the Roscommon/Leitrim border. The River Shannon meanders a short distance from the development site to the east, north-east and north. The proposed development site comprises nine acres combining a number of conjoined field plots. The closest monuments to the proposed development include RO007–055 (ringfort/rath/cashel), situated 50m to the north-west, while RO007–057 (crannog) is situated 250m to the south-west; RO007–058 (ringfort/rath/cashel) is situated 180m to the south and RO007–059 (ringfort/rath/cashel) is situated 250m to the south-east of the development site.

Ten test-trenches were excavated by machine to the level of undisturbed natural or the top of identified archaeological features/deposits. All trenches were 1.8m wide. Definite and potential archaeological features were revealed in two of the trenches, in the eastern portion of Trench 1 and across the northern half of Trench 3, both in the south-east corner of the site.

In Trench 1, to the east of the open drain which runs north–south across the entire site, a substantial deposit of charcoal-enriched soil and heat-shattered sandstone was uncovered, measuring 9m east–west and extending beyond the limits of the 1.8m-wide trench to the north, south and west. This deposit was probably cut by the open drain to the west, although it was clearly not present in the western portion of Trench 1. It was partially overcut by the machine and would have had a likely depth of 0.2–0.3m. All of the fulacht material erroneously removed by the machine was searched manually for finds, with none revealed.

While there is nothing which directly links the fulacht fiadh in Trench 1 with the cut features revealed in Trench 3, their proximity cannot be overlooked and they are probably component parts of the same archaeological site. Trench 3 was originally to have been 70m long but was extended a further 10m in an attempt to follow the archaeology. All of the features were revealed in the northernmost 30m of the trench. All nine were cut features and included one slot-trench and eight irregular to subcircular pits. Their relative positions in the trench are somewhat odd, with three of the pits extending beyond the eastern limits of the trench and the remainder extending beyond the western limits of the trench.

Feature 1, the slot-trench, measured 7m (north-east/south-west) by 0.3–0.45m wide. It extended beyond the western limits of the excavated trench. A small sondage was excavated across its width, 0.2m wide, 3m from its north-east end. This revealed it had straight sides and an irregular bottom with a depth of 0.12m. The fill was a friable grey silty clay with small stone inclusions. The pits were all irregular to subcircular in shape and appear to be filled with a similar silty grey clay to that found in the slot-trench.

The design of the proposed development was amended to avoid the exposed archaeological features, facilitating their preservation in situ.