County: Sligo Site name: MUCKELTY TRAIL
Sites and Monuments Record No.: Environs of SL032-171---- Licence number: 22E0787
Author: Eoin Halpin, AHC Ltd.
Site type: Hillfort environs; no archaeology found
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 554559m, N 814842m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.080683, -8.694428
Sligo County Council, in partnership with Coillte, undertook the development of a new 1.4km long walking trail running from a new carpark built off a minor road off the N7, southwards to the summit of Muckelty Hill and beyond, to a proposed viewing point within the hillfort complex located on a plateau on the south-eastern slopes of the hill. The route was a mixture of improved and unimproved grassland and Coillte forestry.
Archaeological monitoring took place between the middle of August and early December 2023. The construction of the trail, including the carpark, produced nothing of archaeological interest.
Impacts were avoided on the potential enclosure bank on the northern flank of the hill and the construction of the steps on the southern flack was across very steep ground with rock outcropping and thin soil overburden. Elsewhere the construction consisted of topsoil stripping down to the top of natural subsoils, with terram and stone laid down on this surface, with no resultant archaeological impacts.
The work from the base of the steps on the southern flank of the hill across to the hillfort site, SL32-169----, was not completed in the 2023 programme of works, neither were the steps constructed on the steeper sections of the hill’s northern flank.
If these works proceed in 2024, it is recommended that there be archaeological attendance.
36 Ballywillwill Road, Castlewellan Co Down BT31 9LF
