- FUSSOUGH, CO. TIPPERARY, Tipperary

Introduction
The discovery of a cist burial at Fussough, Co. Tipperary, was reported to the NMI by Fr Richard Devane, St Patrick’s College, Thurles, in April 1933. It had been found on the land of Mr Thomas Quinlan when he opened a sandpit. Fr Devane had been in correspondence with Dr Adolf Mahr about other discoveries. He reported that there was no pottery found in the cist, whereupon Dr Mahr asked if he (Fr Devane) and Dr W.E. Callanan, Thurles, would undertake the removal of the contents of the cist, record the dimensions and photograph the site.³⁰⁴ This was agreed, and a detailed report with sketches and photographs was forwarded to the NMI (Pl. 65).

Location
The townland of Fussough³⁰⁵ is about 4.8km north-east of the town of Cashel, close to the village of Dualla. It is a townland of about 44ha. The site is not marked on any of the editions of the OS 6in. maps of the area in the NMI, but a sandpit is marked on the first edition at the north-eastern end of the townland. The townland is about 134–137m above sea-level. The site of discovery was described as a low hill.

Description of site
Fr Devane provided a detailed description of the cist, which is summarised here. Contemporary photographs show the intact cist exposed in the face of the quarry. In order to conduct the investigation, the end slab (at the northern end of the cist) was removed. This gave access to the interior, from which the contents were removed, and enabled internal measurements and details of the structure to be noted. A small trench was dug around the southern and eastern sides of the cist to expose the original pit for its construction. The whole construction was described as ‘rather crude’. The floor of the cist was described as being paved with gravel stones. This was left undisturbed. It appeared to the investigators to be an artificial floor but it may have been the natural make-up of the quarry, as the photographs show a gravel matrix with large cobbles under and around the cist. The cist was quite small, with a proportionately large limestone capstone. The side slabs were formed of thin slabs of limestone and sandstone. There was a double row of slabs on the northern and eastern sides. Packing stones were noted at the bottom of the slabs. The capstone did not make contact with the side slabs but rested on subsidiary slabs placed across the top of the side slabs on the eastern and southern sides. The investigators described packing stones piled up on the southern and western sides, which bore much of the weight of the capstone. Less than half the length of the capstone covered the cist. The dimensions of the cist were recorded as c. 0.457m by 0.318m; depth 0.42m; capstone 0.91m by 0.61m by 0.22m. The long axis was aligned north/south.

Comment
Although no finds of pottery or other artefacts were recovered from this cist, its siting, description and contents suggest that it is of early Bronze Age date. Unfortunately the cremated remains were not examined by an anatomist but were returned to the landowner. It is possible that they were re-interred in the cist, but this is not expressly noted on the file. This site is one of a very small number of cist burials recorded from County Tipperary.³⁰⁶ Recent excavations along the line of the M8/N8 Cullahill to Cashel road scheme (undertaken on behalf of the National Roads Authority) have, however, produced significant evidence of funerary activity, including a cremation pit with Beaker pottery at Monadreela, early Bronze Age bowl and vase pottery from Windmill and Owen’s and Bigg’s Lot to the south of Cashel, and a cremation pit at Gortmakellis that produced a date of 1940–1610 cal. BC. The latter site is located about 2km west of Fussough. Evidence of early Bronze Age habitation was also discovered at Boscabell. Monadreela and Boscabell are in the immediate environs of Fussough townland. These discoveries give a much more detailed picture of early Bronze Age settlement in this part of Tipperary than could have been suggested previously based on recorded evidence.³⁰⁷

304. For some reason Dr Mahr felt that it was not worthwhile to undertake the investigation himself. As there was no pottery vessel in the cist, he surmised that the cist had been opened on a previous occasion and the pot removed.
305. OS 6in. sheets 53 and 61; parish of Ballysheehan; barony of Middlethird.
306. Waddell (1990, 133–5) records only ten, including this site. This number has not increased significantly since then.
307. See the following link for preliminary information on these sites—http://www.nra.ie/ Archaeology/BrochureandPosterSeries/file,14969,en.pdf. Accessed 10/02/2009.