2014:059 - TREANSCRABBAG, Sligo
County: Sligo
Site name: TREANSCRABBAG
Sites and Monuments Record No.: None
Licence number: 14E0347
Author: Richard Crumlish
Author/Organisation Address: 4 Lecka Grove, Castlebar Road, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 574182m, N 812286m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.059075, -8.394332
Monitoring of groundworks in Treanscrabbagh townland in County Sligo took place on 2 September 2014. The development consisted of the provision of car parking for 10 cars, 1 bus bay and a vehicular turning area, as part of an amenity walk development in the Bricklieve Mountains in east County Sligo. The works involved the removal of the vegetative layer and the introduction of a terram-type geosynthetic layer and crushed stone to enable car park construction.
Monitoring was required due to proximity to the Carrowkeel-Kesh Corran passage tomb cemetery. The development was located c. 600m from Carn B (SL040-097001), c. 570m from Carn C (SL040-086) and c. 600m from Carn D (SL040-087). The nearest recorded monument was a ringfort (SL040-026), over 250m to the north-east.
The site was located along the east side and at the northern end of a tarred boreen, at its junction with a local road. The boreen had undergone improvement in the last 10-15 years. A small hard stand/parking area was located at the junction. The site area was grass-covered with occasional willow bushes and sloped down to an overgrown drain to the east. The site area measured 70m long (north-west/south-east) and 3m wide with a turning area, measuring 5.5m north-west/south-east and 5.4m wide, at 4m from the south-east end. The reduction in levels along the area measured 0.2-0.35m with 0.35-0.7m reduced within the turning area.
The removal of vegetation revealed the existing road, modern fill consisting of quarried stone and rubble, topsoil and peat. Below the topsoil and the peat was grey/brown gravel and grey plastic clay. At the south-west side of the turning area was a silted-up drain. Modern 20th-century artefacts were in evidence.
The monitoring of groundworks revealed natural undisturbed stratigraphy along most of the length of the development area with modern disturbance, associated with road improvements, visible along a 25.5m section at the north-west end of the area. Nothing of archaeological significance was uncovered.