What is recorded here

In 2002, a narrow oval pit emerged near the Ennis to Galway railway line, its steep walls holding loose brown silt and fresh animal bone. The pit may have belonged to navvies building the railway in the 19th century, a temporary hunger or waste bin forgotten beneath the clay. What is certain is that human hands dug it, ate or discarded there, and vanished. The pipeline worked above; the pit waited below, keeping a small life intact long after the men left.

A post-medieval pit was excavated in 2002 (Licence no. 02E1152) as part of the Bord Gáis Éireann Pipeline to the west. Described by Hull (2004) as ‘A single oval pit (measuring 2.3m north-south by 0.7m and 0.4m deep) with steep sides and a concave base…. The fill was a loose, mid- to dark brown, fine silt and gravel with frequent inclusions of small stones (diameter typically 0.05-0.1m) and occasional larger ones (diameter typically 0.2-0.3m). Occasional charcoal flecking was also observed in the fill. Very fresh fragments of animal bone were recovered from the pit. The loose compaction of the pit fill, combined with the presence of fresh fragments of animal bone, indicates a relatively recent date. Navvy activity, associated with the construction of the Ennis to Galway railway line (75m to the north-west) in the 19th century may explain the origin of this feature.’ (Hull 2004, 43) Compiled by: Mary Tunney Date of upload: 12 July 2016

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