2021:673 - Doolough Rising Main, Cloonlaheen West, Mullagh, Clare

Archaeological monitoring was conducted during pipe laying, concentrated on the part of the pipe route adjacent to ringfort CL039-017. The monument is upstanding in the field immediately on the north side of a local road and its bank is separated from the road boundary hedge by just 1m, suggesting that the external ditch at the south could survive beneath the road boundary and potentially beneath the northern road edge. No definitive evidence of archaeological material was revealed, however immediately adjacent to the ringfort, beneath the road bedding layers which extended to a total depth of 0.2m, was a 0.1m-thick layer of grey silty clay over a 0.2m-thick layer of bright orange silt, which sat on the natural subsoil. It is possible that these deposits, which extended no more than 0.15m into the trench, represent the southern limit of a depression that is the edge of the outer ditch surrounding ringfort CL039-017, although this is a tentative interpretation.

TVAS (Ireland) Ltd, Ahish, Ballinruan, Crusheen, Co. Clare