Road - road/trackway

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a level area on the banks of the River Rine c. 80m SE of Quin Abbey (CL042-027002-). Portion of a roadway adjacent to a row of houses (see CL042-027022-) was excavated in 2017 (Hull, Licence No. E004671). The roadway was oriented NW-SE and was surfaced with coarse cobbles. The road is not shown on the 1st ed OS 6-inch map (1840) but according to Hull is probably an earlier iteration of the Limerick to Galway road. It would have necessitated a bridge c. 110m to the NE of the present 19th century stone bridge (see CL042-027024-). A possible reference to this road is in the Annals of Inisfallen from 1312 ‘On the Feast of St Andrew the Apostle in the same year Diarmait Ó Briain killed some of the Clann Chuiléin who opposed him on the public highway near Cuinche.’ Iron nails from the surface of the road suggested timber components of the adjacent building. A radiocarbon date of 1441-1631 (UBA-34959) was obtained from an animal tooth recovered from a secure context beneath the metalled roadway (Hull and McCooey 2018, 32). (Hull and McCooey 2015, 38-40; Hull 2017, 18)

Compiled by: Mary Tunney

Date of upload: 3 July 2017

References

Hull, G. and McCooey, J. 2015 The earthworks at Quin Friary. The Other Clare 39, 38-40.

Hull, G. 2017 Quin Friary, Quin, Co. Clare. Final Archaeological Excavation Report (licence no. E004671) Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Dublin.

Hull, G. and McCooey, J. 2018 A radiocarbon date from the archaeological excavation of earthworks at Quin Friary. The Other Clare 42, 32.