Hearth

The National Monuments Service's description

In low‐lying and poorly drained, rough pasture, with an existing Iarnrod Eireann line to E and house plots to the W, c. 1.5km to SE of the River Shannon. Not depicted on OS historic mapping. Identified by Tracy Collins in 2006 during test trenching (Ministerial Direction Order A026/181, NRA Reg. E2334) prior to the construction of the Southern Limerick Ring-Road and excavated in the same year by Áine Richardson as part of Mountshannon 1 (Richardson 2008, 2). This feature consisted of a roughly circular-shaped spread (L 1.02m; Wth 0.98m; D 0.09m) of oxidised clay which was located in the N corner of the site (ibid, 4). The fill was a mid‐pinkish‐red silty clay which contained occasional small sub‐rounded stone inclusions (ibid, 4). This appears to have been an isolated area of in situ burning with no evidence of associated charcoal or ash rich deposits. No other areas of archaeological potential were found in association with this feature.

See attached location plan from excavation report.

Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly

Date of upload: 2 July 2020

References

Richardson, Á. 2008 N7 Nenagh to Limerick high quality dual carriageway: Archaeological resolution project, Mountshannon Site 1. License No. A026/181, E2334. Final excavation report. Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Dublin.