County: Galway Site name: Cahergal
Sites and Monuments Record No.: GA044-024 Licence number: 15E0406
Author: Billy Quinn
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 548317m, N 747332m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.473488, -8.778500
Testing in advance of the construction of a National School was carried out on 16 September 2015 at Cahergal, Co. Galway. The site is located to the rear of the existing School (built in 1952) with green fields to the north and west; there is an effaced ringfort in the east (GA044-025). This ringfort appears as a sub circular enclosure on the first edition map. Based on local sources the ringfort was cleared away between 1900 and 1935, the site has since been developed as a private dwelling with sheds to the rear. The ‘zone of notification’ for this monument extends into the west of the site.
The proposal area was the subject of a geophysical survey that identified a number of areas of archaeological potential including a curvilinear feature and an anomalous ring, interpreted as a possible ring ditch.
Ten trenches were excavated, all sited to provide coverage for the new development, to investigate geophysical anomalies and an area near the levelled ringfort. The trenches exposed plough furrows to the north of the site and a natural sterile stratigraphy elsewhere. The anomalies can be accounted for by modern disturbance, furrows and geology. There was no evidence for any features of archaeological potential.
3 Gort na Ri, Athenry, Co. Galway
