County: Galway Site name: Clydagh 1
Sites and Monuments Record No.: NA Licence number: E005380; Ministerial Directions A067
Author: Declan Moore
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 522542m, N 731289m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.326182, -9.162739
An archaeological investigation took place of a potential archaeological site which was reported by a member of the public at Clydagh townland (Clydagh 1), along the route of the N59 Moycullen Bypass in County Galway. The investigation was carried out on 3 and 4 February 2022 by the author and two assistants.
An area measuring 20m north-south x 6m was cleaned back by hand. After cleaning, the area presented as a yellowish-brown natural silty, sandy clay with several dark amorphous patches of clay and an area of coarse sand visible. There were occasional flecks of red oxidised soil and occasional inclusions of a dark mineral (ferrous-like in appearance) material, some loose and disaggregated suggesting a pedological effect, and some congealed in solid pieces.
A modern field drain/French drain was observed running from the north-east edge of excavation to an area of extremely wet and waterlogged dark brown clay. The drain was roughly 600mm in width, 5m in visible length (it continued into the north-west section face) and 250 – 300mm in depth (the drain was visible in the section face of Feature 4 prior to inundation with water) and was composed of small to medium sized angular stones within a coarse sandy silt.
None of the features investigated were archaeological in nature. There were no artefacts, charcoal, or other inclusions to suggest an archaeological origin. A large pit in the southwestern end of the investigation area is modern in provenance and appears to have been excavated by machine at some time in the recent past. This large pit may be associated with geological investigation work carried out in advance of the N59 Moycullen Bypass in the recent past and the location of this pit appears to correspond with a test-pit shown in engineer’s drawings from 2010 indicating locations of proposed ground-investigation test-pits at that time.
An expert opinion on a sample of the dark mineral material which was ferrous-like in appearance was provided by Dr. Gordon Bromley of the Geology Department at NUI, Galway. Dr. Bromley’s conclusion was that the material is a naturally occurring organic conglomerate composed of ‘ossified’ peat or 'bog iron ore'. Microscopic and chemical testing indicated that there was no ferrous material present.
3 Gort na Rí, Athenry, Co. Galway
