Pit

The National Monuments Service's description

In reclaimed pasture, 60m E of townland boundary with Newtown. A bronze age pit (LI049-055----) lies 30m to the W and a fulacht fia (LI049-057----) lies 30m to the E. Not marked on OSi 6-inch maps. Bronze age features (site TR/2/16/4) excavated by Claire Walsh and Eoin Grogan in 1986 on the Bórd Gáis Éireann Curraleigh West-Limerick gas pipeline (Gowen 1988, 82-83). The results of this excavation were described as following; ‘A curvilinear ditch 4.25m long, 80-95cm wide and 20-25cm deep. The fill was charcoal-flecked and contained abundant heat-shattered stones. There were no finds. Roughly 1m from the eastern terminal of this feature was a large, rectangular pit 1.40m x 1.04m x 32cm. It had several layers of fill, the lowermost of which produced five sherds of very coarse undecorated pottery. A spread of burnt earth and charcoal, covering an area 1m x 1.1m x 2cm deep, was found 80cm-1.8m east of these features. The compact and disturbed nature of this material suggests that it was spread as a result of agricultural activity and was probably derived from the pit.
The association of the curved trench and the pit is similar to features excavated on sites 45 and 36. Just 4m south-east of this site another isolated pit was revealed during trenching (no. 48)' (Walsh and Grogan 1987, 25). No surface remains visible on Digital Globe orthoimage taken between 2011-13 or on Google Earth orthoimages.

See attached location map and plan taken from Gowen 1988, 73, 83.

Compiled by: Fiona Rooney

Date of upload: 23 September 2021

References

Gowen, M. 1988 Three Irish gas pipelines: new archaeological evidence in Munster. Bray. Wordwell.

Walsh, C. and Grogan, E. 1987 Duntryleague (BGE) Bronze Age features. In C. Cotter (ed.) Excavations 1986: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 25, No. 47. Dublin. Organisation of Irish Archaeologists.