2020:700 - Portaghard 2, Roscommon

Portaghard 2 was excavated in advance of construction of the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge Road Project in County Roscommon by Archaeological Management Solutions (AMS) for Roscommon County Council (RCC) and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII). The site consisted of a limekiln and a vernacular structure located in flat, poorly drained pasture. A vernacular structure marked on the first-edition six-inch Ordnance Survey (OS) map (1838) but not on the later 25-inch OS map (1914) was recorded in the Environmental Impact Assessment Report (Roughan & O’Donovan-AECOM 2017, 284). The site was recorded by geophysical survey (Registration No. R000509), conducted by Target Archaeological Geophysics Ltd (Nicholls 2019), as a rectilinear pattern of weakly positive responses. The subsurface remains of a lime kiln and vernacular structure were subsequently revealed during Stage (i)a Standard Test Excavations, carried out by AMS under Ministerial Direction No. A077 (Registration No. E5070) (Hardy 2021).  

The remains of the vernacular structure were 7.2m long, 2.2m wide and orientated northwest/southeast. The interior was cobbled and remnants of an outer wall survived to the west and east. A flagstone-lined drain ran northwest/southeast from the east wall to the centre of the structure. This is likely a drain for animal effluent suggesting that the building was a byre. The limekiln comprised an oval bowl (1.4m long, 1.35m wide and 0.4m deep) with a short, collapsed flue (0.8m long, 0.4m wide and 0.25m deep) extending to the southeast.  

No artefacts or ecofacts were found during the investigation. The site of Portaghard 2 has been fully excavated and all post-excavation analysis has been completed. 

Archaeological Management Solutions Fahy’s Road, Kilrush, Co. Clare. V15 C780