Barrow - ring-barrow

The National Monuments Service's description

In wet, low-lying pasture, which is cut by land drains and watercourses, on the floodplain of the Camoge River, which lies 330m to E. A mound (LI023-073009-) and a ring-barrow (LI023-073011-) lie 180m to SW and SSW, respectively and an enclosure (LI023-073016-) lies 190m to S. Not depicted on OSi historic maps.
Excavated by Máire MacDermott in 1949 and described as a low circular-shaped mound (diam. 4m) defined by a well-preserved fosse with the remains of a slight outer bank (overall diam. 12m) (MacDermott 1949, 101). Prior to investigation, a depression in the bank at N was thought to indicate an entrance, however on excavation, there was no evidence to support this (ibid). Excavation did prove that the fosse had been excavated to a depth of 0.5m. There was no trace of any burials, pits, post-holes or other signs of activity. Toward the centre of the mound, there was a slight flecking of charcoal containing some charred seeds (ibid). Excavation has dated the mound to the Neolithic period based on a piece of pottery of Windmill Hill type. Other finds include an unfinished chert arrowhead, a flake of greenstone axe and a few pieces of chert and flint debitage (ibid).
Remains of monument is visible as a very faint, roughly oval-shaped cropmark on Digital Globe orthophotos taken 2011-13 and on Google Earth orthoimages taken 25/05/2017.
See attached Google Earth orthoimage 25/05/2017 and pre-excavation image of monument by Marie MacDermott (1949).

Compiled by: Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly

Date of upload: 30 August 2020

References

MacDermott, M. 1949 Excavation of a barrow in Cahercorney, Co. Limerick. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 54, 101-2.