County: Kerry Site name: BALLYVELLY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 96E0087
Author: John Tierney, Eachtra Archaeological Projects
Site type: Ogham stone
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 481963m, N 613800m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.263227, -9.729227
The development involved the construction of a detached house on a plot already occupied by an ogham stone. The upper levels of sediment around the stone were to be graded as part of the building strategy. An excavation trench was hand-dug around the base of the stone while further investigative trenches were opened by machine in the eastern portion of the site.
The ogham stone was well seated in an oval pit. The limestone monolith (with quartz veining) was placed into the pit and packed around with a number of medium-sized stones and a mid-brown sediment. The stone stood 1.1m above ground and was found to be a total of 1.56m in height upon removal from the pit. The base of the stone measured 0.29m x 0.24m x 0.16m x 0.25m. Ogham marks are present on the western corner of the stone. The marks could not be deciphered. No dating evidence was found within this feature.
The mid-brown sediment and stone packing at the base of the stone were overlain by topsoil which contained fragments of glass and modern pottery. No archaeological remains were found in any of the trenches excavated to the east of the stone.
A local person said that the stone had been put in its present location 'sometime early this century' to serve as a scratching stone for cattle. No evidence was found to contradict this story.
A number of hypotheses can be developed about the provenance of this ogham stone. Firstly, the stone may have been a prehistoric standing stone reused as an ogham stone. If so, it may originally have been associated with the large earthwork enclosure, SMR 29:112, recently interpreted as a hillfort, or the smaller amorphous enclosure, SMR 29:111, both of which are located a short distance north of the development site. Secondly, it may have been moved to this townland from an Early Christian site.
Editor's note: This excavation, though carried out in 1996, was not reported on in time for inclusion in the bulletin of that year.
Curragh, Ardmore, Co. Waterford
