Indicated — Keel West

Located in the lower, SE end of a steeply-sloping valley overlooking Keem Bay. A dispersed cluster of c. 40 rectangular buildings or houses is shown on the 1838 OS 6-inch map. The houses are spread over an area of c. 240m E−W by 200m N−S, with houses in the N half of the settlement indicated as a series of small linear clusters lining the banks of two branching streams which flow to SE into Keem Bay. A larger cluster of c. 19 houses is located to S of the streams. The settlement is not shown on 1920 OS 6-inch map. There are scant visible remains. The best preserved remains consist of 12-14 rectangular, grass-covered wall footings which correspond to houses in the southern part of the settlement. They can be seen on an area of relatively level elevated ground immediately to NW of the disused early 20th-century coast guard station which now dominates the landscape in this end of the valley. Two of the house foundations have been excavated (09E0302) by Achill Archaeological Field School as part of a research project. One of the houses (designated ‘building 3’ in the excavation reports), located on a subrectangular terrace at ITM 455651 804551, was excavated over two seasons in 2009 and 2015 (Bolger 2009; Rathbone 2015). The excavation revealed a rectangular house (8.75m NW−SE; 4.55m NE−SW), with slightly rounded external corners, defined by the remnants of a drystone-faced wall (Wth 0.9-1m) with an earthen core. There was an entrance gap/doorway in the SW wall. An oval-shaped hearth was located in the NW end of the house, and a stone-lined drain cut across the SE end of the interior, suggesting that the SE end of the house was reserved for the cattle. The excavation clarified that the house was a permanent residence rather than a seasonally-used, booley-type dwelling. A large assemblage of finds, including creamware, pearlware, earthenware, iron objects, and fragments of glass, suggests an early 19th-century date for occupation of the house. The foundations of another, slightly smaller house (designated ‘building 4’ in the excavation report) lie immediately to W. This house was investigated in 2016 in a further season of excavation (under an extension of the same license 09E0302) (Campbell 2016). The excavation revealed that this house had distinctively rounded corners, giving it an oblong plan (c. 8m NW−SE by 4m NE-SW). The walls (Wth 1-1.2m) were of drystone construction, retaining an earth and sod core, with an entrance slightly off-centre in the SW wall. Three different hearths, located in the central part of the house, were used over the period of occupation. An internal drain cut diagonally across the NW third of the house, exiting at the doorway. Ceramic finds, such as creamwares, pearlwares and earthenwares dominated, indicating a late 18th- or early 19th-century date. The settlement may be associated with some of the field walls, banks and cultivation ridges in a field system (MA053-003004-) which encloses this end of the valley. The excavations produced evidence that both houses were deliberately demolished and the walls levelled out. One possibility is that the settlement as a whole was removed as part of land improvement schemes introduced in the 1850’s and 60’s by Captain Boycott, who built a house (MA053-003005-) on an elevated terrace to NW of the settlement. Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 10 January 2017