Medieval weir 'will be washed away'

Belfast Telegraph - 

One of the finest examples of a medieval fish trap in Europe is going to be washed away before its secrets can be recorded, scientists have claimed.

A 700-year-old giant wooden weir, once used by monks and to keep local lords in Co Clare trading, cannot be fully preserved because it is exposed to the forces of nature.

And with budget cuts hitting the Heritage Council there is no money to properly analyse and record the huge structure.

The ancient fishing spot - described by experts as a harvesting machine - had been buried for centuries and now sits 1.5km (0.93 miles) from land in the Fergus Estuary on shifting mud banks and water channels.

Dr Aidan O'Sullivan, School of Archaeology at University College Dublin, said he had hoped to work with locals to analyse the site before it is washed away.

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