2021:335 - Roscam, Galway

Monitoring of groundworks at a development on Rosshill Road, Roscam, County Galway, was carried out over six days between 5 August and 17 November 2021. The project consisted of the demolition of one house and the construction of a replacement, the renovation of two outhouses, the upgrade of a septic tank system to a tertiary wastewater system, together with all associated landscaping and site works. The monitoring was a condition of the planning permission.
The site contained a 20th-century bungalow, two stone outbuildings and four fields of pasture. No features of archaeological significance were visible within the proposed development site. There were no recorded monuments within or in the immediate vicinity of the site. The nearest recorded monument was the enclosure (GA094-072002) of the Roscam Early Medieval Ecclesiastical site, which is a National Monument (No. 46), at c.65m distance.
The groundworks consisted of those associated with the construction of the dwelling house, wastewater treatment system, landscaping and other site works. The area reduced for the new house measured 11-23.5m long, 13-19.5m wide and 0.3-0.6m deep. The area reduced for the wastewater treatment system measured 5.5m long, 4-5m wide and 0.25-0.5m deep. The trench excavated from the treatment plant to the new dwelling location measured 26m long, 0.8-1.2m wide and 0.4-0.6m deep. An area measuring 17.5m long and 11m wide was stripped for a site compound in a field adjacent to the the development site. It was reduced by 0.2-0.4m.
The stratigraphy encountered during the monitoring of groundworks consisted of topsoil, tarmac, fill, concrete and the foundation of the recently demolished dwelling above natural subsoils and bedrock. A number of modern artefacts recovered were not retained. Nothing of archaeological significance was in evidence.

4 Lecka Grove, Castlebar Road, Ballinrobe, County Mayo