County: Mayo Site name: Breaffy Road, Castlebar
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 08E0371
Author: Billy Quinn, Moore Archaeological & Environmental Services Ltd, Corporate House, Ballybrit Business Park, Ballybrit, Galway.
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 515379m, N 789806m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.850825, -9.286096
Testing was carried out in June 2008 on the site of a proposed development of new government offices at Breaffy Road, Castlebar Co. Mayo. The development entails the construction of a new office building for the OPW adjacent to their existing headquarters. The area is located along a landscaped green space defined by a grass margin that slopes down to an access road. The site is located to the south-east of MA078–026, classified as an enclosure.
Testing involved the excavation of two parallel trenches along the footprint of the new building. The trenches were excavated with a grading bucket to a maximum depth of 1m and measured 55m in length by 1.8m in width. The stratigraphy exposed was uniform throughout, consisting of sod and topsoil c. 0.3m in depth overlying a mid-brown silty clay with a moderate amount of small stones and occasional decaying stone. This overlay a natural pink/brown boulder clay B horizon. No features or materials of archaeological significance were exposed. A 5m section to the south of Trench 1 was left unexcavated to avoid impacting on a water main.
