County: Mayo Site name: Humbert Way, Knoackaphunta, Castlebar
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 15E0219
Author: Antoine Giacometti
Site type: 19th-century limekiln
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 513841m, N 789215m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.845256, -9.309305
A programme of testing was carried out on a disused golf course south-west of Castlebar in advance of a Hospice development. No archaeological features were identified during the test-trenching programme. The programme demonstrated that the site has been extensively landscaped for the construction of the pitch and putt course in modern times.
One feature on the site was a blackened spread with much stone and charcoal. This was tested and found to be of 19th-century date on the basis of artefacts within it. It was interpreted as a disturbed industrial feature that had been landscaped during the construction of the modern golf course. Due to its superficial similarly with a common prehistoric monument type (fulacht fiadh) Mayo Planning Authority requested a second phase of testing (15E219 ext., carried out by Steve McGlade) which confirmed that the feature was the remains of a 19th-century limekiln. Mayo County Council have requested the feature be fully excavated.
Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place Dublin 2
