2024:269 - Lumcloon, Falsk, Offaly
County: Offaly
Site name: Lumcloon, Falsk
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a
Licence number: 24E0105
Author: Liam Coen c/o Courtney Deery Heritage Consultancy
Author/Organisation Address: Lynwood House, Ballinteer, Dublin 16
Site type: Testing
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 613718m, N 720132m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.231402, -7.794535
Test excavations took place on 7-11 March 2024 at a site of a proposed solar PV farm in Lumcloon and Falsk townlands, Co. Offaly. 26 trenches were excavated targeting geophysical survey (Bird & Young 2023) results, areas of known ground disturbance and a sample of areas of potential ground disturbance. Topsoil was generally shallow, overlying a grey sandy and gravelly subsoil. Peat deposits were only encountered in a north-western field, located on the margin of a large bog area.
Only a single area of archaeological interest was identified during the course of testing. Corresponding to Site 2 in the geophysical survey, a shallow (<0.25m in depth) circular ditch c. 11m in diameter was identified and contained some charcoal, burnt clay and burnt bone in its fill. This was interpreted as a prehistoric ring-ditch, a ritual monument that often contains cremation deposits.
Reference:
Bird, C. & Young T. 2023 ‘Geophysical Survey Report, Archaeological Magnetic Gradiometry Survey, Lumcloon Solar Farm, County Offaly. Licence No. 23R0518’. Unpublished report prepared by TerraDAT UK on behalf of Entrust.
