Archaeology and history on the N5 Westport to Turlough Road Project, Co. Mayo. TII Heritage 17. Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Dublin.

In 1808 the surveyor and engineer William Larkin proposed a ‘post road’ between Ballinasloe and Westport. The route meandered around the hills, hollows and lakes that are typical of the Drumlin landscape of Mayo. Larkin’s road was never built but, more than two centuries later, the N5 Westport to Turlough road was built in the same landscape, on a similar but more direct route. Construction of the new N5 was preceded by archaeological investigations by Archaeological Management Solutions Ltd for Mayo County Council with funding from Transport Infrastructure Ireland. Numerous new archaeological sites were discovered, providing evidence for aspects of daily life in the region from the Neolithic period to the 19th century—farming and food processing; craftwork, industry and trade; domestic architecture; and, at the end of life, later prehistoric funerary practices. This book is a distillation of that work. It aims to tell these stories of the past in plain language, in an attractive and colourful format, while maintaining the scientific integrity of the evidence, and can be enjoyed by everyone with an interest in the history and archaeology of Mayo.

Author Bios
Kerri Cleary is a PhD graduate of University College Cork. Her research interests are Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement, ritual and burial practices. She has published widely as an author and editor, including Celtic from the West 3 (2016) and Excavations at Knowth 6 (2017). Kerri currently works for Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit as an Editor and Research Manager. She is from Tipperary and now lives in Belfast.

Paul Clarke is a graduate (MA) of the National University of Ireland, Galway. He has a wealth of experience in archaeological survey and excavation work, with a particular interest in the medieval and post-medieval archaeology of County Mayo. Paul commenced his career in the private sector before moving to Sligo County Council and then Mayo County Council, where he currently works as a Project Archaeologist on TII-funded transport projects.

Richard Gillespie is a graduate of the National University of Ireland, Galway. He has directed numerous archaeological excavations and surveys and was a principal author of On Troughs and Tuyères (2011) an NRA scheme monograph on the archaeology of the N5 Charlestown Bypass. Richard lives in Castlebar and is currently a Project Archaeologist at Mayo County Council, where he has worked for 30 years.