Archaeological Assessment
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ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF PROPOSED SUBSTATION BALLYMACSHERRON, BELMULLET, CO. MAYO Moore Marine Job Number: M11M003 Excavation Number: 09E175 Author: Eoghan Kieran Date: July 2011 Moore Marine Services Ltd. Corporate House Ballybrit Business Park Galway +353 (0) 91 765640 [email protected] www.mooremarine.ie. Circulation Name No. of copies Client Project Managers DEHLG NMI Planning Other Other Comments: Issued by Date Please note that all recommendations in this report are subject to approval by the Planning and Heritage Section of the Department of the Environm ent, Heritage and Local Government and the National Museum of Ireland . Please note that this report and accompanying recommendations are based on maps provided at the time of writing. Should changes be made, further assessment may be necessary. Please note that no part of this report may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise without prior permission from Mo ore Marine. © Copyright Moore Marine 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 SCOPE OF WORKS .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Purpose of the Project .................................................................................................................. 1 1.3 Archaeological Assessment and Testing ....................................................................................... 1 1.4 Legal Background.......................................................................................................................... 2 1.5 Methodology ................................................................................................................................ 2 1.5.1 Desk Study ............................................................................................................................ 2 2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROJECT ................................................................................................ 4 2.1 Description of the Site .................................................................................................................. 4 2.2 Site Layout/Locational details ...................................................................................................... 4 2.3 Description of the development ................................................................................................... 5 3 ARCHAEOLOGICAL & HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ........................................................................... 6 3.1 Prehistoric Period ......................................................................................................................... 6 3.2 Neolithic Period ............................................................................................................................ 6 3.3 The Bronze Age ............................................................................................................................. 7 3.4 The Iron Age ................................................................................................................................. 7 3.5 Early Christian / Early Medieval Period ........................................................................................ 8 3.6 Later Historic Period ..................................................................................................................... 9 4 BASELINE DATA ............................................................................................................................ 12 4.1 Record of Monuments and Places .............................................................................................. 12 4.2 The National Museum of Ireland Topographical Files ................................................................ 13 4.3 Previous Archaeological Fieldwork in the area........................................................................... 16 4.4 Aerial Photographs ..................................................................................................................... 17 4.5 Cartographic Evidence ................................................................................................................ 17 4.5.1 A map of the Maritime County of Mayo (1809-1817) by William Bald .............................. 18 4.5.2 The First Edition Ordnance Survey Map for County Mayo, Sheets MA 09 & 016, Surveyed 1838 18 4.5.3 Second Edition Ordnance Survey Map of County Mayo,Sheets MA 09 & 016, Surveyed 1900. 19 4.6 Inventory of Architectural heritage post 1700 AD ..................................................................... 20 4.7 Placename Evidence ................................................................................................................... 20 5 PROGRAMME OF TESTING ........................................................................................................... 20 5.1 Test Trench 1 (figure 7, plate2) .................................................................................................. 21 5.2 Test Trench 2 (figure 7, plates 3 & 4) ......................................................................................... 22 5.3 Test Trench 3 (figure 7, plates 5 & 6) ......................................................................................... 23 5.4 Test Trench 4 (figure 7, plate 7).................................................................................................. 24 6 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................ 25 7 DISCUSSION & RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................... 25 7.1 Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 25 7.1.1 The Development Area ....................................................................................................... 25 7.1.2 Assessment of Potential Impacts ........................................................................................ 25 7.2 Recommendations ...................................................................................................................... 26 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................. 27 8.1 Other sources referenced ........................................................................................................... 27 TABLE OF PLATES Plate 1. Aerial image of subject site .................................................................................................... 17 Plate 2. Excavation of Test Trench One ............................................................................................... 22 Plate 3. View of Trench Two from the south ....................................................................................... 23 Plate 4. Stratigraphic sequence of Test Trench Two ........................................................................... 23 Plate 5. View of Test Trench Three from the East ............................................................................... 24 Plate 6. Stratigraphic sequence of Test Trench Three ......................................................................... 24 Plate 7. Test Trench Four from the North ........................................................................................... 25 TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1. Project Location ....................................................................................................................... 2 Figure 2. Proposed development plan ................................................................................................... 5 Figure 3. Extract from Co. Mayo RMP Sheets 09 & 016 showing site location in red .......................... 13 Figure 4. Extract from Bald’s Map of County Mayo 1817 ..................................................................... 18 Figure 5. Extract from First Edition Ordnance Survey Map of County Mayo, 1838.............................. 19 Figure 6. Extract from 2 nd Edition Ordnance Survey of Co. Mayo, surveyed 1900 ............................... 20 Figure 7. Test Trench Locations ............................................................................................................ 21 TABLE OF TABLES Table 1: Locational details ...................................................................................................................... 4 Table 2. Proximity of RMP sites to the proposed development .......................................................... 13 NON TECHNICAL SUMMARY This report describes the results of a pastureland. The programme of testing programme of pre-development archaeological excavated four archaeological test trenches testing and assessment of a proposed along the footprint of the proposed electricity substation and associated development. They all recorded homogenous components at Ballymacsherron, Belmullet, Co. sterile horizons with no apparent Mayo. The testing was carried out in advance archaeological remains. Notwithstanding this, of the construction of the sub-station, which the location of the site in close proximity to a itself is a component of the larger Atlantic number of Recorded