EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Galway
Ballybrit, Co. Galway
Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure.
Grid Reference: F33642740 (133645/227406)
SMR No: GA082-013001
Excavation Licence: N/A
Excavation Duration/Year: July 1971.
Site Director: J. Waddell (University College, Galway).
The site consists of an enclosure set on an area of flat land. It averaged 56m in diameter,
with a surrounding bank approximately 8m wide and 1m high (Fig. 137). The site was
partially destroyed during expansion of the racecourse at Ballybrit.
Excavation revealed the corner of a stone-built rectangular building (Fig. 138), and another
rectangular house (12m by 6.5m) was indicated in the centre of the enclosure which was unexcavated.
It was not possible to date these structures (the portion excavated was built
directly onto the limestone bedrock), and they may post-date the primary occupation phase.
A small semi-circular enclosure 25m to the west of the main enclosure was also excavated.
With the exception of one sherd of post-medieval pottery, this enclosure revealed no
evidence for human occupation. No occupation layer was identified for the main enclosure
either, although a number of finds were recovered from this area including post-medieval
pottery, a fragment of a whetstone, and an Iron Age bronze spear-butt (in the make-up of
the enclosure bank).
Fig. 137: Plan of enclosures at Ballybrit, Co. Galway (after Waddell 1971, 74).
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