County: Mayo Site name: Cloghmore
Sites and Monuments Record No.: None Licence number: 16E0561
Author: Richard Crumlish
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 472114m, N 793523m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.875358, -9.944862
Monitoring of the erection of a fence around a ringfort (MA065-028) was carried out in Cloghmore townland on the southern tip of Achill Island in County Mayo on 1 November 2016. The monitoring was recommended by the Local Authority as part of the planning permission for an adjacent development. MA065-028 is situated on a cliff edge at the western side of the southern entrance to Achill Sound and is named 'Gubnahardia Fort' on the 1st and subsequent editions of the Ordnance Survey six-inch sheets. The northern half of the monument is extant with the D-shaped area enclosed by an earth and stone bank and external fosse. The fosse has been partially filled in, especially at west, with material from an adjacent commercial yard having fallen into it elsewhere along its length. A modern drystone wall crosses the ringfort near the cliff edge.
Sixteen pits were excavated for the bases for the concrete fence posts; eleven along the west side and five along the north side of the monument. The pits measured 1.1-1.5m long, 0.7-0.9m wide and 0.2-0.6m deep. Modern disturbance associated with the adjacent fish farm facility was in evidence in the pits to the west of the monument, while natural undisturbed stratigraphy was visible in the pits to the north. No finds were recovered during the course of the monitoring. Nothing of archaeological significance was revealed and the erection of the fence had no adverse impact on the ringfort, which is now protected.
4 Lecka Grove, Castlebar Road, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo
