2007:AD42 - TOBERRORY, Roscommon

In accordance with planning conditions set out by Roscommon County Council an assessment was undertaken in March 2007 in advance of the construction of a silage base and dung stead within the area of archaeological constraint of RO022–056, at Toberrory, Tulsk, Co. Roscommon. The proposed development was located within a hardcore-covered farmyard adjacent to a slatted shed and outbuildings. As part of this assessment a programme of testing was undertaken.

The farmyard lies c. 1600m due north of the great mound of Rathcroghan and 900m north-east of Rath Mór. This archaeological complex covers an extensive area, including parts of the townlands of Ballyconboy, Kilvoy, Grallagh, Toberrory, Moneylea, Kilnanoonan and Tullintuppeen and comprises 49 separate monuments including earthworks, barrows, roads, pits, hut sites, raths, mounds and field systems.

Two machine-cut test-trenches were excavated across the development site. Testing was undertaken with a mechanical digger equipped with a toothless bucket. The trenches were stripped from the hardcore surface (50mm) through to a sterile natural boulder clay which overlay outcropping limestone deposits. Trench I was 1.5m wide and 10m long, laid out north-east/south-west. Trench II was 1.5m wide by 10m long, orientated north-west/south-east.

Trench I contained a redeposited mix of soil and boulder clay. This was brought in in the recent past to level the area of the yard prior to the spreading of hardcore. Approximately 0.2m under the hardcore a concrete silage/foddering bay was encountered at the centre of the trench. This concrete base had become redundant and had been covered during the levelling of the yard

No finds, features or deposits of archaeological significance were uncovered during the course of testing. A range of modern material was recovered from the trenches.