2009:604 - LOUGH LANNAGH (CASTLEBAR LOUGH), CLOONKEEN, Mayo

This area was tested in October 2009 to inform Mayo NRDO’s design team at a pre-planning stage of the proposed new N5 Westport to Boholla road project. The test area is within a wetland area, which is marked on the first-edition OS maps as part of the lake and lakeshore. The focus of this testing was the wetland area to the north-east of a crann)g (MA078–046). According to the recorded monuments files, the crann)g was identified under a few inches of water after drainage – probably the Moy drainage, which dates to the late 1960s/early 1970s. It is stated that it was in a poor state of preservation and some teeth and bone were found. There are no other references to it in the files and its location on the ground is very overgrown. Seven 1.9m-wide, parallel, 50m-long trenches, evenly spaced along the route of the proposed road adjacent to the crann)g, and three 2m by 2m test-pits were opened. Trenches were stratigraphically excavated to previously undisturbed subsoil using a mechanical digger with a toothless bucket. No archaeological remains were identified by this testing.