County: Mayo Site name: Cottage
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 24E0005
Author: Tamlyn McHugh
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 548596m, N 774775m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.720110, -8.778820
The area under archaeological assessment was located at Cottage and Corraun, Ballyhaunis, Co. Mayo and the proposed development entails the extraction of gravel and sands. The site is located in an undulating marginal land characterized by reclaimed field systems of marginal land enclosed by earthen banks and post and wire fences. The site comprises a steep sided natural drumlin covered in grass. It is bounded by marginal land on all sides of the Proposed Development Area and is a prominent hillock in a low-lying area of expansive bog. The site is accessed via a farm trackway to the north. In the eastern area of the site there is a quarry. A quarry extension in which archaeological material in the form of a burnt mound and wooden trackway/togher were found during testing conducted by the author in 2016.
Testing took place on 16 January 2024. The work was carried out by a mechanical excavator under strict archaeological supervision. 11 linear test trenches were excavated across the entire development site, totaling 910m. Each test trench was excavated through the overlying topsoil material to the natural substrate. No archaeological objects, features or deposits were encountered. Despite the lack of archaeological material within the test trenches on this particular site, archaeological sites and monuments were discovered within the vicinity of the proposed development area, so it was recommended that the proposed development be subject to archaeological monitoring of topsoil stripping from the site and from the footprint of the proposed access road which was not test trenched in January 2024 due to access constraints.
Cooldrumman Upper, Carney, Co. Sligo
