County: Roscommon Site name: Kilgarve
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 07E0720
Author: Billy Quinn, Moore Archaeological & Environmental Services Ltd, Corporate House, Ballybrit Business Park, Ballybrit, Galway.
Site type: Burnt mound, burnt layer
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 578387m, N 760093m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.590260, -8.326440
Excavation was carried out to the south-east of Ballinasloe town in the townland of Kilgarve, Co. Roscommon, in July and August 2007 as part of the Creagh sewerage scheme.
Unlicensed monitoring was carried out during the course of the topsoil-stripping in advance of pipework. During the course of monitoring, several features, all located in the townland of Kilgarve, were identified. These included two possible burnt mounds, a possible field ditch and a possible pit feature. Excavation of the burnt mounds commenced on 16 July and was completed by 3 August 2007.
The excavation of Site 1 exposed a burnt mound sitting on natural marl with no associated finds or features. The feature, which measured 10m north–south by 8m, was excavated by a crew of four over fifteen working days. For the purposes of excavation the mound was divided into four quadrants of equal size, each divided from the other by a central cross-shaped baulk which was 0.5m wide. The mound was 0.46m in depth in the centre with a uniform stratigraphy of fire-cracked stone within a matrix of charcoal-rich and blackened silty soil. No associated finds or features were recovered during the excavation. The site was fully excavated down to natural in advance of development. Natural geology in this area consisted of white marl mixed with glacial till and outcroppings of bedrock
Site 2 was located south-west of the proposed scheme and was in the path of a temporary haul-road that was being installed to facilitate the construction of the sewerage scheme. The feature consisted of a subcircular spread of burnt material that was c. 8.5m in diameter. A single test-trench was hand-excavated along the long axis of the feature. This trench showed the spread consisted of a thin layer of burnt and fire-cracked stone in charcoal-enriched soil. This layer was 0.24m in depth in the centre, and tapered away in both directions. It was sitting directly on natural geology which consisted of compact grey glacial till and bedrock. This feature was preserved in situ protected by a layer of geotextile and backfilled.
Site 3 was a possible field boundary, identified during testing as a linear feature running north-east/south-west to the north of the proposed scheme. The feature was c. 12m in length and 0.8m in width. Excavation showed this to be the trace remains of an early 20th-century field boundary, considered to be of no archaeological significance.
Site 4 was identified as a possible pit feature. Further investigation, however, showed it to be a boulder socket and non-archaeological in nature.
