2018:852 - PORTUMNA CASTLE, Car Park, Galway

Three machine-cut test trenches at the site of a proposed new car park at Portumna Castle, Portumna, Co. Galway in 2018 found no material of archaeological interest.

A good deal of bedrock is very close to present ground level. The roughness of the subsoil/rock background, and the disturbance from recent (and past) tree roots, made it difficult to remove topsoil cleanly, and expose a clean subsoil surface. However no medieval or earlier pottery was recovered, no burnt soil or charcoal were recorded, and no linear land boundaries were found, apart from the wall and ditch at the northern limit of the site. The wall postdates the discarding of a piece of creamware, and is thus unlikely to predate the nearby Gothick Gate (of c.1810). The ditch below may not be much older and has no surviving bank on its south side, on the car park site.

There is no indication that the post-medieval town of Portumna strayed onto the site, nor the elusive medieval town.