Neolithic and Bronze Age Landscapes of North Mayo: Report 2011

Survey from Ballinglen to Rathfran Bay
Gretta Byrne
This draft chapter reviews the results of Byrne’s survey work at the east of the study area. The text is
complete, bar minor edits. New GIS based figures have been generated and require minor
modifications to labels etc to finalise in terms of cross references with the text. The new figures are
included here, but will be modified for the final texts.
Research Outline and Methodology
The survey was originally undertaken as a requirement for an MA degree (Byrne, 1986). The area
surveyed was the eastern section of the North Mayo blanket bog extending from the Ballinglen River
which flows into Bunatrahir Bay in the west to Rathfran Bay, the estuary of the Cloonaghmore,
sometimes known as the Palmerstown River, in the east. The area was already known to have a
great concentration of megalithic, mostly court, tombs described as “remarkable” by de Valera as
early as 1951 (de Valera 1951, 193). In the intervening years further megaliths had been recorded,
including the Rathlackan court tomb Ma116, by Aldridge who briefly referred to “buried walling and
remains of hut circles” in the area (Aldridge 1965, 12).
During the course of the survey a total linear length of 22kms of pre-bog walls, 20 house sites and
two further court tombs were located and mapped.
The methodology involved a preliminary walking of all areas of peat to determine the depth of peat,
extent of turf cutting and any visible remains of pre-bog features. Frequently the peat was
sufficiently cut away to expose visible lengths of walling, or sometimes an occasional stone might be
visible jutting above the cutover surface. This happened over large parts of the Rathlackan, Barnhill
and Castletown areas and on portions of Carrowmore hill. Other parts of the higher ground on
Carrowmore and on large areas of the broad ridge on top of Seefin the peat was still 2m or more
deep. Sometimes walls would be visible in drains or roadsides and occasionally stones visible in
modern field banks constructed of turf would be an indication of a wall beneath.
Following the initial walkover a detailed systematic survey was conducted using the probing
technique pioneered by Caulfield at Céide Fields. This was used to verify walls where only occasional
stones were visible and also to locate features under the deeper peat. There were however some
limitations to the technique. If the wall was very collapsed and spread out or if the wall had been
robbed it was very difficult to identify in a probed profile. In some cases exposed walls were robbed
of loose portable stones by the turf cutters to provide foundations for bog roads leaving only the
larger or set stones in place. One example of this was Ballymachugh H2 (Figure 9) where according
to a local turf cutter a lot of stones forming a wall “about 1 foot (0.3m) high” were removed in the
1950s leaving only the basal set stones.
Some areas of cutaway peat had occasional stones protruding which may be remains of destroyed
walls but probing could not with confidence discern definite walls so were not included. This
occurred in Lackanhill about 400m N of the Lecarrowntemple court tombs Ma16 and Ma17; in
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