County: Roscommon Site name: GALEY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: RO042-062 Licence number: 12E236
Author: Martin E. Byrne
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 594472m, N 758132m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.573048, -8.083460
A planning application for the development of seven dwelling units and internal access road at Galey, Knockcroghery, required that an Archaeological Impact Assessment, including a programme of testing, be prepared in response to a ‘Request for Further Information’.
The site incorporates part of a ringfort (RO042-062) which is bisected (north-south) by a railway line. It is understood that that section of the monument within the development lands was formerly defined by an enclosing bank but that was levelled by the previous site owner in the course of landscaping works associated with the construction of the present house in the 1970s. It was at this time also that the north-western area of the monument was planted, together with planting to the immediate south.
A total of eighteen test trenches, of varying lengths and orientations, were excavated within the boundaries of the site, none within a required 20m buffer area established around the adjacent remains of the monument. All trenches were excavated by machine fitted with a toothless ditching/grading bucket, following which the sides and bases of the trenches were cleaned by hand and visually examined. In addition, all the spoil generated by the excavation of the test trenches was ‘raked-over’ in an attempt to increase the potential for the recovery of archaeological artefacts.
No features or artefacts of archaeological interest were uncovered during the course of the testing.
Byrne Mullins & Associates, 7 Cnoc Na Greine Square, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare.
