County: Roscommon Site name: ABBEYTOWN ROAD, BOYLE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: RO006-068005 Licence number: C509; E4402; R288
Author: Martin A. Timoney
Site type: Urban
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 580526m, N 802793m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.974049, -8.296839
Boyle Cistercian Abbey, founded in 1160, is situated at the north-eastern part of Boyle town and just above the Boyle River. The development involved the laying of a substantial replacement storm-water pipe for 95m along the northern side of that road, from the roundabout at Schilling Hill down to a manhole near the ancient bridge over the river, and the replacement of footpath on the southern side of the road by a wider one for about 110m. These works were monitored in early December despite torrential rain.
No archaeological material was obtained from the works on the footpath except for the recovery of one plain floor tile and possible pieces of two others in the under-footpath material.
The trench for the storm-water pipe was cut along the line of the existing pipe. As the new trench was not perfectly aligned with the old one, however, the intervening few centimetres of material on the southern side was prone to collapse into the new trench. A chopped femur shaft of a cow, a rib fragment of a large mammal, probably cattle, and a tusk from an adult male pig (Margaret McCarthy, pers. comm.) were found. These bones had fallen from a thin layer of soil at about 0.4m below the road surface opposite the north transept of the abbey.
Bóthar an Corainn, Keash, Co. Sligo
