2024:412 - Doonard More, Strokestown, Roscommon

An application was made for full planning permission to construct a two-storey dwelling, domestic garage, waste water treatment system and percolation area with associated site development works and services at Doonard More, Strokestown, Co. Roscommon. In a further information request from Roscommon County Council, the council noted that the proposed development site was partly within the zone of archaeological potential established around RO023-114—- (Ringfort – rath).
The Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage recommended that predevelopment testing should be carried out on site.
It was proposed to test the site via 5 machine-dug test trenches which was carried out on 18 October 2024. Two related features of note were uncovered, a linear stony deposit running east-west across the southern part of the subject site and the more mottled nature of the subsoil at the northern end of the area. The mottled soil related to evidence of root disturbance, the area having previously been an orchard, with the trees removed within living memory. The second feature, the stony deposit, was evidence for the orchard wall, which ran from east to west across the area, but again was removed within living memory. No archaeology, apart from these modern features, was noted from within the site.