County: Offaly Site name: TOBERDALY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 11:14 Licence number: —
Author: Anne Connolly
Site type: Designed landscape - folly
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 652237m, N 731136m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.327896, -7.215836
A 2-week trial excavation took place from 27th April to 15th May 1992, at Toberdaly, Co. Offaly. The Co. Offaly Archaeological Survey provided funding.
In the course of field walking, 2 'barrow-like' structures came to the attention of the Survey team. The structures, situated in proximity to each other, each consisted of a single deeply cut circular fosse of approximately 30m in diameter. There were no traces of a bank, external or internal. The aim of the trial excavation was to attempt to establish the exact nature of these sites and the trial excavation concentrated on the best preserved example.
Three areas were opened for investigation, 2 of which cut across the fosse to the east and west of the site and a 3rd in the centre. The centre trench did not yield any archaeological material, but the trenches across the fosse both revealed the remains of a low, mortared stone facing, located on the interior of the fosse.
The finds from the fosse, including pottery of 19th- and 20th-century date as well as a red brick fragment and the mortar from the wall, indicate the site was modern. It is likely that the site, which lies in view of the now derelict Toberdaly House, was constructed as a 'landscape feature' or 'folly' early in this century or late in the 19th century.
Tully East, Ballygar, Co. Galway
