2023:307 - Cullagh More, Sligo

The work is being undertaken in the vicinity of Burnt Mound (SL008-224----) Cullagh More, Carney, Co. Sligo on behalf of Sligo County Council. The project entails the development of 25 Proposed Social Housing Units for Sligo County Council. The total area comprises approximately 2.1 hectares and is a greenfield site within Carney village. Phase 1 of the housing scheme will be 1-hectare in size. The monument was discovered by the author during a site walkover on February 27, 2023, as part of an Archaeological Impact Assessment Report commissioned by the developer. Monitoring of site investigation works were undertaken under licence 23E0266; no archaeological material was uncovered.

Licence 23E0266 was extended to undertake a programme of test trenching of the 1-hectare area of Phase 1 of the proposed housing scheme. The testing scheme took place on 15-17 May 2023. All trenches were excavated to the top of the natural substrate, to determine whether subsurface archaeological material was present. The trenches were excavated using an 8.5-tonne mechanical excavator equipped with a graded bucket 2m wide. The proposed development area comprises one large plot where the vegetation cover was previously removed, which was boggy land underfoot. There has been no previous development on the property, and it contains no structures.

A total of 13 test trenches of varying lengths and depths were excavated across the entire proposed development area, running east to west. The trenches were excavated parallel with one another and spaced 10m apart. The total area excavated comprised 533.65m of open test trenches. The land had a gently undulating topography, which was waterlogged in the southern area of the site, making it difficult to walk over. All trenches were excavated to 2m width, which is the width of the graded machine bucket. All trenches were excavated to the underlying natural substrate which, in most of the trenches, comprised a whiteish-grey marly clay with variations of blackened soil and yellowish-orange boulder clay with moderate decayed stone and moderate medium sized stones. Frequent pieces of wood occurred, but no pieces were worked and they appeared as randomly occurring and natural tree roots. No additional material of an archaeological was noted in any of the test trenches.

The full extent of the burnt mound was ascertained during the testing programme. An area measuring 14m (north-south) x 12m was cleared of overburden revealing a sub-circular shaped burnt mound, comprising frequent fire-cracked stones in a charcoal-enriched soil matrix, measuring 8m (north-south) by 9m. No other features were observed and following recording of the burnt mound it was preserved in situ by covering it in geotextile terram and then covering in a layer of topsoil. An area measuring 14m (north-south) x 12m was fenced with post and wire fencing.

Cooldrumman Upper, Carney, Co. Sligo