County: Limerick Site name: GLENAMEADE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Celie O Rahilly, c/o Planning Dept, Limerick Corporation
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 542374m, N 653088m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.625966, -8.851144
Assessment cuttings were made on a possible site following an Environmental Impact Assessment. The site was situated at the southern end of the proposed development (a quarry), and consisted of an isolated area of high ground, surrounded by wetland. On the summit and surrounded by scrub were stone walls which might have defined an enclosure. After clearance of the scrub, 2 low rectangular mounds of moss-covered stones were noted located within the thicker. Four cuts were opened by machine: 2 through the mounds and 2 through the walls. Bedrock occurred just below a thin spread of soil in all of the cuttings and nothing of archaeological interest was noted.
The walls which had been thought to form an enclosure were probably old field boundaries, which due to the scrub had survived clearance; the mounds were possibly built from field clearance stones and placed there because of the unsuitability of the ground for farming.
In the course of the field walking for the EIA, 2 sites of archaeological potential were noted, one possible enclosure just south of marked ringfort no. 23 (SMR), the other was at the northern end of the site near the main Limerick/Foynes road. This latter consisted of a series of low stone and earthen banks, one of which appears to be a trackway running parallel to the road boundary. To the west is a small lake which has been divided by a causeway that may be a continuation of the track. There is a possible enclosure to the south of the track. On higher ground to the south of the field is a marked ringfort, no. 20, (SMR).
