2009:089 - CAHERCALLA MORE, Clare

Cúaan an Chláir are developing part of the Cahercalla Hospital property to accommodate twelve sheltered housing units and a daycare centre for the elderly. The site will be fully serviced including parking and access through the grounds of Cahercalla Hospital. The planning application was returned with a request for further information, including a request for archaeological information. An assessment was requested involving a research component alongside a programme of test excavation.

Fifteen trenches were proposed to assess this site fully. Test-trenching was carried out on 22 and 23 April 2009. Over 1.5km of test-trenches were excavated over the three test areas. No features or deposits of archaeological origin were identified during the trenching exercise.

In the area designated for later development as a link road and further housing, directly north of the farmyard and coach yard, a number of archaeological sites were identified. These were a bivallate ringfort, which had not been previously identified and a two-part perforated stone, perhaps the base of a standpipe or a wheelwright’s stone. One of the test-trenches was excavated across the ramparts of the ringfort, clarifying the presence of two heavily denuded dump-construction banks with external ditches. The features were covered with heavy gauge plastic and backfilled. Both sites were reported to the National Monuments Service and the County Clare archaeologist.