County: Tipperary Site name: CHANCELLORSLAND
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 92E0128
Author: Martin Doody, Discovery Programme
Site type: Enclosure
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 575755m, N 635848m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.473526, -8.356857
The site at Chancellorsland close to the town of Emly in Co. Tipperary consists of an oval ditched enclosure located within a small barrow cemetery. Excavations have been ongoing at the site as part of the Discovery Programme's Ballyhoura Hills Project since 1992 and work has concentrated on a habitation site (site A) and a circular enclosure and outlying barrows (site C) in addition to extensive investigation of the complex involving aerial photography and detailed topographic and geophysical survey.
Site A
This is an oval-shaped enclosure which measures approximately 60m x 50m internally. It is surrounded by a ditch c. 1m deep and in places by a double ditch. The enclosure appears to have been used for habitation and the remains of several post-built huts have been recorded in the interior. Wet conditions, especially in the ditches, have favoured the preservation of organic remains and finds have included animal bones (mainly cattle, sheep and pig) and wood off-cuts from carpentry. In addition, a considerable assemblage of coarse pottery and two bronze awls were also found. Radiocarbon dates indicate a later Bronze Age period of occupation.
Site C
Excavations at Site C began in 1992 and continued in 1994. The site is circular in plan, c. 35m in diameter, with a ditch and slight external bank. Results from the 1992 excavation indicated an Early Christian date for the latest phase of activity at the site. However, further excavations have revealed a ring barrow and a pennanular ditch which are stratigraphically later than the infilling of the ditch of the main enclosure which may indicate a Bronze Age date for the original construction of Site C.
13-15 Lr. Hatch St., Dublin 2
