2011:457 - ROSSBEG, Mayo

Pre-development testing was carried out over three days between 4 and 6 July 2011 at a site at Rossbeg townland, Westport. The proposed development consisted of the construction of five dwelling houses, an access road and all ancillary site works. The testing was required owing to the scale of the development and the location of a possible mound (MA087-074) adjacent to the south-eastern site boundary. The possible mound was the subject of testing during the Westport Sewerage Scheme in 2001 (Excavations 2001, no. 927, 01E0231). A portion of the mound was to be removed to construct an access road to a pumping station. The testing revealed nothing of archaeological significance, but the remains of a Bronze Age hut site were uncovered immediately north of the mound. The hut site was fully excavated, with archaeological remains within 2m of the south-eastern site boundary of the proposed development. A pipe laid across the northern half of the proposed development site was monitored as part of the Westport Sewerage Scheme.
The proposed development site consisted of two fields of undulating pasture, with a slope down to Westport Bay at the northern end of the site. The site, according to the landowner, had been subject to disturbance in the past, in the form of levelling with a bulldozer. No archaeological features were visible.
Testing consisted of the excavation (by machine) of five trenches positioned to best cover the development area, especially that closest to the Bronze Age site. The trenches measured 100.2m, 53.5m, 101.2m, 66.7m and 110.8m long respectively, 0.9–1.8m wide and 0.1–2.5m deep. Testing revealed backfilled disturbed ground in the south-eastern half of the site and natural undisturbed stratigraphy in the north-western half of the site. A number of modern artefacts were recovered from the disturbed ground and from the topsoil. Nothing of archaeological significance was uncovered.

4 Lecka Grove, Castlebar Road, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo