Pit

The National Monuments Service's description

In gently undulating pasture, with good views in all directions, 140m N of a townland boundary with Rineroe. An enclosure (LI021-148----) lies 250m to E. Not depicted on OS historic mapping. Monument identified as a series of pits during monitoring of topsoil-stripping along the proposed route of the N20/N21 Limerick bypass. Monument excavated (Licence No. 99E0423) in 1999 by Ciara McManus and described as a roughly circular-shaped ring (diam. 5m) of black, charcoal-rich soil, with a small, circular-shaped pit to S. Another large circular-shaped pit was excavated, c. 50m to E (McManus 1999, 1).
Excavation of a spread revealed the existence of three badly truncated pits, set out in a triangular arrangement, all filled by a charcoal-rich, silty clay, and a number of small random post-holes (McManus 1999, 1-3). It proved difficult to determine the extent and function of these pits due to their disturbance. The presence of the small post-holes on site suggests that this may be the remains of a structure, where perhaps the spreads represent the remains of slots as opposed to pits. No immediately datable material was recovered from the site and so no date range can be offered for this activity at present.
Monument is not visible on Digital Globe orthophotos taken 2011-13 or on Google Earth orthoimages taken 28/06/2018.

See attached excavation plan and location map taken from McManus 1999

Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly

Date of upload: 10 August 2020

References

McManus, C. 1999 Excavations [of pits] at Kilgobbin townland, N20/N21 Road Improvement Scheme, Co. Limerick. Licence no. 99E0423. Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Dublin.