House - Bronze Age

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture 30m S of a stream and 45m W of a second watercourse. Enclosure (LI039-032----) lies 90m to W. Not depicted on OSi historic mapping. One of 6 features (LI039-172/174/ 175001/175002/176----) identified as (BGE 3/77/27-29) in 2002 by Ken Wiggins (Licence 02E0119) during topsoil-stripping on the Bord Gáis Éireann Pipeline to the West. Possible Bronz Age house excavated in 2002 by Kate Taylor under licence No. 02E0470 when described as one of two ring-gullies that lay just 1m apart. The result sof the excavation were summarised as follows; ‘The eastern ring-gully differed from its neighbour in survival, form and size. It comprised a penannular gully with two post-holes, one at each terminal, and was notable for its extremely small diameter. It formed an almost perfect circle with an internal diameter of 2.34m, enclosing an area of c. 7.3m2; no internal features were present. The gully itself was on average 0.2m wide and 0.12m deep, with a rounded profile. The two post-holes measured c. 0.2m in diameter and were 0.04m and 0.1m deep. They marked an entrance that faced north-east and was 0.95m wide. Almost opposite the door the gully became shallow, being entirely absent for 0.8m, not an unusual feature for the rear parts of ring-gullies. The remains appear to represent a small hut, presumably with the gully operating as a slot-trench for timber planking. Other instances of these diminutive structures are known, for example, at Curraghatoor, Co. Tipperary (Doody 1987). Excavation produced two artefacts: a broken chert thumbnail scraper and a small piece of worked chert (Taylor 2004,297; Grogan 2007, 237-8)’. Monument has been fully excavated and is not visible on aerial images.

See attached plan of excavated house.

Compiled by: Martin Fitzpatrick

Date of upload: 18 May 2021

References

Halpin, B. 2004 Ballingayrour (BGE 3/77/7-9, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19); Various. In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 2002: Summary Accounts of Archaeological Excavations in Ireland, 298-9, No. 1087. Wordwell, Bray.

Grogan, E., O'Donnell, L. and Johnston, P. 2007 The Bronze Age landscapes of the pipeline to the West. Bray. Wordwell.

Doody, M.G. 1987c Late Bronze Age huts at Curraghatoor, Co. Tipperary. In R.M. Cleary et al. (eds), Excavations on the Cork-Dublin gas pipeline (1981-2), 36-40. University College, Cork.