2015:177 - BALLINROBE: Frairsquarter West, Claremorris Road, Mayo

As a condition of Planning Permission (Mayo County Council Ref: P14/120), testing of the proposed site of a Primary Care Centre for Ballinrobe took place on 24 February 2015. Two previously unknown archaeological sites (burnt spreads Friarsquarter West 1 and Friarsquarter West 2) were uncovered within 15m of each other in the south-east corner of the site. On foot of this discovery and given the nature of the archaeological sites, Mayo County Council and the National Monuments Service requested that some additional testing be undertaken at the site. This additional work was completed on 7 September 2015.

A total of c. 280m of test trenches were excavated in an east-west orientation across the site, located to complement those previously excavated. The area around the previously discovered archaeological sites was not tested, as this will be stripped as part of an upcoming excavation. No other archaeological features were observed within the additional trenches. No archaeological finds were observed or recovered during these investigations.