Excavation Reports Donaghpatrick-Kilcoona: 2. Kilcoona 2011

A number of published archaeological excavations have taken place in the parish of Donaghpatrick-Kilcoona, some dating back to the 1950’s. These excavation reports have been uploaded to excevations.ie, the Database of Excavation Reports. These reports were compiled by the archaeological teams involved in each excavation and will be uploaded individually as part of a series of publications relating to the excavations in the parish. The findings of these excavations vary in detail, however, despite the scant findings of some of the excavations, the individual reports provide rich details on processes and techniques used by the archaeologists.

The second excavation of this series dates from an excavation of an area identified for burial ground extension in Kilcoona Cemetery. The excavation took place in February 2011

https://excavations.ie/report/2011/Galway/0022391/2011:266

2011:266 – KILCOONA, Galway
County: Galway
Site name: KILCOONA
Sites and Monuments Record No.: GA056-085
Licence number: C453; E4246
Author: Anne Carey
Author/Organisation Address: 80 Portacarron, Ballymoneen Road, Galway
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 531165m, N 743758m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.439414, -9.036041

Seven trial trenches were excavated at the site of a proposed burial ground extension in Kilcoona townland, Headford, on 16 February 2011. The proposed development site was located adjacent to a medieval church, round tower and graveyard. Kilcoona (Cill Chuana or St Cuana’s Church) was, according to Gwynn and Hadcock, granted to St Colmcille by Tibrades, son of Prince Maelduin. St Cuana (d. c. 650), formerly a monk at Lismore, built a monastery at Kilcoona and became abbot there. The church later belonged to the Fratres Cruciferi of Castledermot.

The site is known for its round tower, which survives to a height of 3m. Antiquarians appear to have confused this site with Annaghdown, some four miles to the south-west, to which they attributed a round tower mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters. No such round tower existed at Annaghdown and William Wilde, writing in the 1860s, suggested that the reference probably related to Kilcoona, which was connected with the ecclesiastical site at Annaghdown. The Annals date the round tower to the year 1238. The excavation of seven trial trenches at the site did not result in the discovery of archaeological features or artefacts, and the trenches were seen to be composed of naturally occurring soils.

The above information was taken from www.excavations.ie – a national database for excavations in Ireland, under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.