County: Mayo Site name: Hawthornlodge
Sites and Monuments Record No.: Near MA078-054-Rath Licence number: 17E0353
Author: Billy Quinn
Site type: Vicinity of ringfort; post-medieval ha-ha
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 516644m, N 788042m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.835178, -9.266403
Monitoring of topsoil stripping and excavation works at Hawthorn Lodge, Castlebar Golf Club, Castlebar, Co. Mayo took place between 11 April and 18 May 2018. Prior to any ground works taking place, an area around enclosure MA078-054 was marked out and subsequently fenced off to protect it from any unnecessary tracking by machinery.
The excavations were carried out by a backhoe excavator with a ditching bucket. Ground conditions varied but typically the sod and topsoil were wet or damp making tracking on slopes difficult. Typically, the brown silty sod and subsoil (C1) measured 0.32m thick and overlay a grey gravelly boulder clay (C2) with pockets of sand and frequent cropping rock. One discreet fire spot (ITM 516713 788181) was identified but following testing was deemed non-archaeological.
Stripping work along the fairway of hole 14 and of the water feature exposed natural ground with no features of archaeological potential. West of MA078-054 on the existing course and within the ‘zone of notification’ for the monument topsoil stripping exposed made-up ground approximately 0.36m deep; this ground was infilled in the mid-1990s during a redesign of the 12th green. No finds or features of archaeological significance were noted in this area.
Moore Archaeological and Environmental Services Ltd., 3 Gort Na Ri, Athenry, Co. Galway
