2014:626 - CLAREMORRIS: Kilcolman Road, Mayo

An archaeological assessment was compiled in advance of a proposed development for a 46-bedroom motel and conference room and a motor service area. The proposed development is located to the east of the town of Claremorris in south Co. Mayo, immediately north of the Kilcolman Road and adjacent to a slip road leading onto the main N17 Galway-Sligo route.

The area for development is roughly rectangular in shape and measures 240m in width at the southern boundary, 200m at the northern boundary, 150m at the eastern boundary and 165m at the western boundary, and has an overall area of 4.1 hectares. There are no recorded archaeological sites located within the area for proposed development or within a 300m radius of it.

Five test trenches measuring 50m in length x 1m in width and three test trenches measuring 70m x 1m were excavated across the area. Trenches 1 and 2 were located in the eastern plots and were orientated roughly north-east/south-west. Trenches 3-8 were located within the 2 large rectangular fields and were orientated north-west/south-east. Trenches 5-8 were extended from 50-70m in length to give greater coverage of the area tested. All trenches were excavated using a toothless grading bucket and were excavated to subsoil.

No evidence for archaeological material was revealed during testing. Test trenches 1, 3, 4 and 5 indicate that a considerable amount of topsoil has already been stripped off this site some time ago; there is some topsoil mounded up at southern area of the site. It is quite likely topsoil was removed from the site during adjacent road works and construction of an adjacent roundabout several years ago. Trenches 2, 6, 7 and 8 indicate there has been little ground disturbance at the north-east plot or the western plot of development area.

No archaeological finds, features or deposits were uncovered during testing. As the marshy nature of the site indicates it might have been a likely spot for fulachta fiadh or burnt mounds dating from the Bronze Age, it was recommended that monitoring of topsoil stripping be carried out during development works.