2025:023 - Lehanagh, Mayo

The test excavation of a site in advance of its development at Lehanagh townland, Mayo Abbey, County Mayo, was carried out on 14 and 15 January 2025. The project consisted of a new graveyard for Mayo Abbey. The testing was necessary due to the size of the site.

The proposed development site was located at the southern end of large field of gently undulating pasture, at the northern end of the village of Mayo Abbey. No features of archaeological significance were visible within the proposed development site. There were no recorded monuments within or in the immediate vicinity of the site.

The testing consisted of the excavation of eight trenches, located to best cover the area of the proposed development, while respecting a 10m exclusion zone on either side of an overhead power line which bisected the site. The trenches measured 54.1m, 38m, 21.8m, 32.6m, 33.1m, 23.3m, 50.1m and 49.8m long respectively; 1.6-1.8m wide and 0.3-0.8m deep. The spoil from each test trench was inspected for artefacts.

Apart from a short section of modern fill which was visible in one trench and a water service which crossed another, the stratigraphy was natural and undisturbed and consisted of topsoil above natural subsoils. A number of modern pottery sherds and a small number of animal bones were found in the topsoil. Nothing of archaeological significance was in evidence.