2010:830 - TOOM (5), Wexford

Toom 5 was located on the proposed M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy scheme. The site was situated in a pasture field. The excavation revealed a cluster of pits, post-holes and stake-holes.

Six pits, circular or oval in shape, were filled by a common deposit: brown silty clay with occasional small stones and charcoal flecks. Two of the pits were located within the main cluster of stake-holes, one towards the centre of the cluster while the other was at its eastern edge. The pits varied in size from 0.48m to 1.55m in length, 0.36m to 1m in width and 0.04m to 0.55m in depth.

Seventeen post-holes were revealed. Fifteen were oval or circular and two were irregular in shape. The fills were consistent and comprised either a brown to grey silty clay or a light-grey sandy silt. The majority of the post-holes were grouped within the main cluster of stake-holes at the eastern side of the site and only two were in an isolated location in the northern side of the site. Three post-holes were located in the south-west of the site and seem to form a 2.9m-long line orientated south-west/north-east. They were surrounded by a group of seventeen stake-holes but do not seem to form any distinctive structure. North and north-east of these three features were twelve other post-holes interspersed with stake-holes. It is difficult to identify any structure made by these features.

There were 104 stake-holes recorded on the site, all bar three in a large cluster. The main cluster covered an oval area approximately, 11.5m by 7.5m, and stake-holes concentrated around the edges perhaps suggest an outer structure. It is possible that a double line of stake-holes at the north and north-west of this cluster represents a wattle fence or wall. The stake-holes were all circular or oval and were filled with either a brown to grey clayey silt or a brown silty clay with frequent small pebbles. They all had steep or vertical sides with some indicating a pointed base. The stake-holes measured 0.04–0.2m by 0.04–0.17m and were 0.02–0.48m deep.

One rim fragment of North Devon gravel-tempered ware (17th-century) and a piece of struck flint were recovered from topsoil. A piece of flint and burnt-bone fragments were recovered from a post-hole fill.

Apart from a double line of stake-holes, which might represent a wattle fence or a wall, it is not possible to identify any obvious structures. It is possible that the post- and stake-holes formed some sort of temporary structure or windbreak which was repaired, replaced or restructured over a period of time.