1996:384 - TYONE, Tipperary

A possible ploughed-out fulacht fiadh had been identified in the archaeological EIS for the proposed Nenagh Bypass. A magnetometer survey was carried out over an area of 10,000m2 in the western part of this large low-lying field, which is bounded by the Nenagh River on its eastern side; the field was in stubble at the time of the assessment and in places was severely waterlogged. Six cuttings were excavated-four to investigate a number of geophysical anomalies, a fifth to investigate a spread of stones noted on the surface of the field during field-walking, and the sixth within a spread of charcoal also noted on the surface of the field. Nothing of archaeological significance was discovered in any of the cuttings.

One large geophysical anomaly, which was assessed with two trenches, had been caused by a large modern machine-cut trench for a culvert; a second was caused by a deposit of red brick which had been brought into the field in recent times to improve drainage; and a third was caused by a field-drain depicted on the first-edition OS 6" map of this area.

The same field-drain was found when a stony spread, noted on the field surface outside the area of geophysical survey, was investigated. A subcircular charcoal spread, c. 10m in maximum diameter, was also noted on the surface of the field outside the area of geophysical survey. A 5m-long cutting was excavated by hand through the greatest concentration of charcoal; it was found that the charcoal was confined to the ploughsoil, was not associated with any archaeological features and can be interpreted as the remains of a bonfire lit to dispose of bushes when, according to the landowner, a number of field boundaries were removed c. 20 years ago.

Further deposits of red brick and spreads of charcoal were noted in a number of locations in this field when it was revisited in January 1997 subsequent to ploughing; none of these ploughsoil features represent ancient activity.

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