2008:917 - Knockbrack, Mayo

An attempt to widen a minor tarred road at Knockbrack, Westport, came perilously close to a bivallate rath (MA088–020). Some mechanical activity revealed a section of outer fosse, 2m wide on top and 0.5m deep at most, and works were suspended. Under licence, the section of exposed fosse was cleaned up for photography but no feature or item turned up. Later the foundation trench for a roadside stone wall which ran for c. 18m was excavated by hand; it did not produce any feature. Before completion of the project a small 7m-long trench was cut for drainage purposes across the minor road. This trench ran across a feature of burned or baked clay which measured 1.9m north–south; it was evident on both faces of the cut and reached 0.8m in depth. Some stone from the upper 0.15m appeared to be sandstone which had been very heavily burned, but the remaining material appeared as grey sandy gravel and generally small stones. This feature had been cut into the yellow or orange daub but contained no objects or datable material. It seems likely that this feature represents part of a fosse, which might have formed part of a conjoined element to the nearby rath.