County: Sligo Site name: Oakfield, Sligo
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SL014-218 Licence number: 24E1078
Author: Maeve McCormick
Site type: Fulacht fiadh
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 567840m, N 834043m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.254211, -8.493527
Test Excavation was undertaken at Oakfield, Sligo (Derrydarragh or Oakfield Td, St. John’s Parish, Barony of Carbury). Works took place in between 14 to 17 October 2024.
A total of 22 trenches (1798 linear metres) were excavated. Constraints, in the form of overhead wires, field boundaries, water pipes and unexpected development, resulted in the reduction of the proposed 2123 linear meters to 1798 metres.
The test excavation uncovered several modern 18th-20th-century ditches associated with the Oakfield estate (Earthwork RMP SL014-218). To the rear (north) of the farm buildings the foundations of a road, a wall and a ditch depicted on the 1st Edition OS Map were uncovered. Two of the ditches C61 (C64) and C62 (C65) in Trenches 18 and 20 did not contain any dating material. These ditches are likely to also be associated with the estate or recent farming but could not be dated. Finally, a possible prehistoric burnt mound/fulacht fiadh (C31) was uncovered in Trench 8.
Archer Heritage Planning, Unit 1, Tenure Business Park, Co Louth A92 K2VF
