1995:177 - THE GREAT HEATH, Laois

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Laois Site name: THE GREAT HEATH

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 95E0081

Author: Breandán Ó Ríordáin

Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous

Period/Dating: Undetermined

ITM: E 652239m, N 701933m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.065473, -7.220574

Monitoring of ground clearance in advance of the development of a GAA pitch was carried out over an 11-day period, 26 April to 12 May 1995. This development consisted of the mechanical stripping of heather-covered topsoil. The topsoil overlay a fine white sandy material and a brown silty deposit; below it was the natural yellow boulder clay. The area was liable to flooding in the winter months.

In the course of monitoring a series of stake-holes were noted. Two lines of stakeholes orientated roughly north-south were uncovered at the western end of the proposed playing pitch. Both rows ran roughly parallel to each other and c. 3.3m apart over a distance of 18m; having converged, the resultant single line continued for a further 24m. The stakeholes were spaced at varying distances apart, ranging between 100mm and 460mm. They ranged in diameter from 60mm to150mm and in depth from 170mm to 260mm. The fill was a homogeneous silty material with iron oxide staining. The upper fill of the stakeholes was noticeably sandy.

This series of features is similar to the linear arrangement of stakeholes excavated on the line of the Portlaoise Bypass by V.J. Keeley in 1993 (Excavations 1993, 50). The fill of the stakeholes was a fine clay with no inclusions. No remains of decayed wood were present. It would therefore be plausible to assume that the stakes had been deliberately withdrawn at some time. The soil in which the stakeholes occurred was extremely hard and unyielding and it is reasonable to assume that at the time the stakes were driven into the soil it was in a relatively soft condition. It is considered likely that the area had been a pond or ephemeral lake in earlier times and it is suggested that the lines of stakes may have been in use in confining livestock to certain areas or in forming a driveway to a watering hole.

Burgage More, Blessington, Co. Wicklow, and V.J. Keeley, 29/30 Duke St., Athy, Co. Kildare