County: Clare Site name: Tullyvarraga, Shannon
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 18E0731
Author: Alan Hawkes (For Maurice F. Hurley)
Site type: Testing
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 541634m, N 661574m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.702144, -8.863588
In December 2018, test-trenching was carried in advance of new social housing scheme in the townland of Tullyvarraga, near Shannon town, Co. Clare. The layout of some of the trenches was informed by a previous geophysical survey (18R0216) that was restricted to a small area at the centre of the site due to the poor ground conditions.
Eight trenches were excavated across three areas within the proposed development site and were positioned between areas of dense vegetation and mature trees. The majority of the features identified were lines of dark silty soil within the natural orange subsoil. Partial excavation of some of the lines suggests they are likely related to early modern ridge and furrow cultivation. The furrows were consistently shallow and barely penetrated to the depth of the subsoil. Other linear features relate to drains and levelled field boundaries that are depicted on the early historic mapping of the site. These agricultural features are not considered to be of archaeological significance.
Two large iron objects were recovered from Trenches 2 and 3. One comprised a possible bucket handle, while the other appeared to be the corroded remains of a large knife complete with tang. These are likely to be early modern in date and both were recovered from topsoil. The remaining objects were recovered from Trench 5. These included five sherds of white creamware, a possible iron nail and a small fragment of clay pipe stem.
No features of any archaeological significance were found and all the objects recovered were of early modern date.
'Melrose' 5 Palmbury, Togher, Cork
