Council to inspect site amid concerns about a ringfort
Date Published: {J}
BY CIARAN TIERNEY
The Galway City Heritage Officer is to carry out an inspection of a site at the Barna Road today amid concerns that construction work could be taking place in the vicinity of a ringfort or a related historic structure.
Heritage Officer Jim Higgins confirmed to The Sentinel yesterday that he intends to visit the site near Rusheen Bay following concerns from a member of the public who has taken aerial photographs at the location.
Two historic monuments have already been identified at the site near Rusheen House, but Mr Higgins said that he would investigate claims that a separate structure may be near a site where construction work is on-going.
“I am going to have a look at this site from the archaeological point of view,” said Mr Higgins. “After a story about this site appeared in the Galway City Tribune last week, I was contacted by a reader who flew over it a few years ago.”
Mr Higgins said it was impossible to make out the exact nature of the structures on the site from photographs which were supplied to him by the reader at the weekend.
Meanwhile, the City Council’s Enforcement Officer, John Kennedy, also visited the Rusheen House site late last week and found that there were no breaches of the planning permission by the developer.
Full planning permission was granted some years ago for the revamp of Rusheen House, but some local residents expressed concerns after seeing the amount of construction activity on the site last week.Just over three years ago, the site was the subject of some controversy when the former owner planned to build a massive extension to the house which would have resulted in a nine fold increase to its size.
Plans for the larger development were turned down, but the original planning permission still stands after the site was bought by another private developer.
An adjoining 18 acre site was purchased by the same developer in January, when the City Council was unsuccessful in a bid at a public auction.
Mr Higgins said the Enforcement Officer had informed him yesterday that there were no breaches of the planning conditions at the site last week, but the discovery of a historic structure could change the designation of part of the site.