House - prehistoric

The National Monuments Service's description

National monument No. 247. Situated on the E side of Lough Gur 45m N of the present shoreline, on the S facing slope of Knockadoon in an area with a rich concentration of prehistoric monuments. House site B excavated by Ó Ríordáin in the late 1940s which revealed the evidence for at least two buildings and three successive floor levels (Ó Ríordáin 1954, 312). The monument prior to excavation was described Ó Ríordáin as visible 'by reason of a series of large stones which appeared above the grass surface. These were mainly arranged in an E-W line about 20' [6m] in length with a few stones north of the eastern end of this line. It was hoped that on excavation further stones would be revealed to indicate a complete house-plan. This did not, however, prove to be the case and the stones as finally uncovered were substantially the same as those seen before excavation. There was little to indicate the remaining outline of the Site B house to which the stones and post-holes on the southern side belonged, but other stones and post-holes give indications of an eastern side forming an approximate right-angle with that along the south. A central hearth which occurred at a high level probably belongs to this building. A trench, depth varying between 5" [0.12m] and 7" [0.18m] in the clay, which terminated in a large rectangular post-hole about 16" [0.4m] deep, probably was a wall groove for a wooden wall but whether of the same house as that to which the stones belonged cannot be decided. Rock outcrop appeared here and there on the site and may have influenced the plan of the houses, possibly being utilized instead of wall-stones in places. This may have caused the outline to be irregular but there is in any case evidence that one building the site was rectilinear and probably approximately rectangular' (ibid., 312-4). A large quantity of pottery was found, all, except for a few sherds, Neolithic, though no coarse ware was uncovered (O'Kelly and O'Kelly 1978, 37-8).
A cluster of white stones visible on Digital Globe aerial photograph appears to mark the location of this excavated house site.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 21 May 2018

References

Ó Ríordáin, S.P. 1954 Lough Gur excavations: Neolithic and Bronze Age houses on Knockadoon. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 56C, 297-460.

O'Kelly, M.J., and O'Kelly, C. 1978 Illustrated guide to Lough Gur, Co. Limerick. Cork. Author.

Harbison, P. 1970 (Reprint 1992) Guide to the national monuments in the Republic of Ireland. Dublin. Gill and Macmillan.