2008:876 - BALLINVILLA, Mayo

Construction work commenced on a proposed housing development at Ballinvilla, Irishtown, which is in the vicinity of a rath, before the condition relating to test-trenching had been fulfilled. Consequently an impact assessment was carried out which showed there was no evidence of archaeological features or contexts from the damaged area. A total of 21 test-trenches were excavated in the proposed Phase 1 and Phase 2 sectors of the overall site area. No archaeology was apparent from any trench with the boulder clay formed in general of grey gravel, faun-coloured or yellow daub or crushed natural limestone. A pit containing some sheep and cow bones was clearly modern and also contained loose pebbles, ash and plastic.