County: Mayo Site name: Knockaphunta, Castlebar
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 15E0219
Author: Steven McGlade
Site type: Disturbed burnt spread
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 513940m, N 789215m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.845276, -9.307801
Two phases of test-trenching were carried out on the site, the first by Antoine Giacometti (May 2015) and the second by the author, Steven McGlade (December 2015). Thirteen trenches were excavated across the site during the two testing programmes.
The main feature of note was a thick deposit of black soil containing a high quantity of burnt stone and charcoal identified in the northern part of the site during the initial testing programme. This was found to contain 19th- and 20th-century pottery and glass. Due to concerns that this may be a disturbed prehistoric monument a second phase of testing was carried out focussing on the spread to assess its nature and extent. The spread was found to be c. 21m in length east-west by c. 16m in width. The base of the spread was between 0.55m and 0.8m below the present ground level. It was frequently unsealed, with the black charcoal-rich silt being located directly below the grass, while in other places a layer of disturbed redeposited natural overlay it. There was little if any topsoil overlying the spread. Again in the second testing programme 19th-century pottery, glass and clay pipe were all retrieved from the deposit and various levels.
A number of agricultural drainage features and a large field boundary were identified during the testing, along with features relating to the use of the site as a pitch and putt course in recent years. Modern disturbance was also noted in the north-east of the site, where a structure was depicted on the First Edition OS map in the mid-19th century. This structure was again depicted on the OS maps at the turn of the century but was demolished during the first half of the 20th century, along with the field divisions within the site .
Despite the spread of burnt material containing 19th- and 20th-century material throughout, there is a possibility that it represents a heavily disturbed fulacht fiadh. It may also represent a dumped deposit of industrial waste from the nearby limekilns. It was decided that the reduction of the deposit should be monitored to ensure that no features or undisturbed deposits of an archaeological nature were sealed below the disturbed layer. This work was carried out in 2016.
Aileach Archaeology, on behalf of Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2
