County: Tipperary Site name: DERRYNAFLAN, Lurgoe
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Raghnall O Floinn, National Museum of Ireland, Dublin
Site type: Ecclesiastical enclosure
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 610748m, N 649045m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.592574, -7.841368
Excavation in 1987 concentrated on the outer enclosing ditch on the east side of the site. Two cuttings across the ditch showed that it was broad and shallow - 3m in width and 0.7m in maximum depth. No finds were found which would date the period of use or abandonment of this feature. The ditch, at one point, appears to have cut a row of stakes, perhaps associated with a wooden trackway or togher (see No. 45 below) nearby.
Limited excavation was carried out on a rectangular enclosure measuring 20m x 22m on the east side of the site. This appeared to be earlier than the inner enclosing bank on the site. This enclosing bank, when excavated, was found to consist of a rubble-filled wall faced with loose limestone boulders. The wall incorporated fragments of rotary querns suggesting a relatively late date. Limited excavation of the interior revealed that the enclosure was used as a cemetery. Extended burials of adults and children were found in unmarked pits, oriented east-west.
Finds included a large number of iron (coffin?) nails, a whetstone, sherds of B ware amphorae and glazed medieval pottery.
