Road - road/trackway

The National Monuments Service's description

Annotated 'Track of Cromwell's Road' on the first ed. OS six-inch map. The name appears to derive from the activities of General Ireton (Cromwell's son-in-law) in 1651. In advance of a gas pipeline the road was excavated in 1998 by Kenneth Hanley under licence No. 98E0429. The excavator found no surface remains of any road earlier than the 19th-century.
The results of the excavation were summarised as following; 'Testing was carried out on the 'Track of Cromwell's Road', Castleconnell, Co. Limerick, in advance of gasworks from Limerick to Ballina, Co. Tipperary, via Castleconnell, Co. Limerick. The road name appears to derive from the activities of General Ireton (Cromwell's son-in-law) in 1651.
Two test-trenches, A (1m x 4m) and B (1m x 5m), were tested to a depth of 1m and revealed a similar stratigraphic sequence but no finds. At c. 0.47m below the modern road surface iron panning occurred over a compacted, sandy clay surface. This may represent an original dirt track or road. If this was a dirt track there is no evidence that it was manipulated or altered in any way but was merely used as a routeway. The underlying strata appeared to be sterile natural deposits. The first road surfacing occurred with the insertion of a crude layer of cobbling or metalling, set into a bed of fine sand, probably in the 19th/20th century. Above this was a series of modern tarmac road surfaces. The gas pipeline was monitored through the rest of the roadway (although some areas were drilled), which revealed a similar array of sterile clays.
If this was the route taken by Ireton's forces their presence appears to have been marked by name only'(Hanley 2000, 131; www.excavations.ie).

Compiled by: Denis Power

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 11 May 2020

References

Hanley, K. 2000 Cromwell’s Road, Castleconnell. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1998: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 131. Bray. Wordwell.