1997:329 - ATTYFLIN, Limerick

This site lies along the proposed route of the N20/N21 Adare–Annacotty road scheme. Assessment took place during the summer of 1997. The site consists of a series of low banks. The inner, or more northern, group consists of a main bank c. 40m long, which curves roughly south-west to north-east, with a series of smaller banks located to the north, north-west and north-east. A pool was formed by the main bank and some of the smaller ones which contained stagnant water during the period of the assessment. To the south of these lies another single curved bank.

Two trenches were manually excavated, the first into a section of the larger inner bank and the second into the outer bank. Both trenches measured 1m x 10m and were orientated roughly north–south.

Trench 1 revealed evidence of a small ditch, roughly V-shaped, which extended beyond the limit of excavation in an east–west direction to the south of the bank. The ditch was 1.6m wide and 0.3m deep from its cut. The bank was constructed of redeposited subsoil, some of which presumably was upcast from the digging of the ditch. No artefacts were recovered, either from the ditch fills or elsewhere in this trench.

In Trench 2 the bank was found to consist of a series of layers, the lowest of which contained pieces of red brick, suggesting a modern date for the feature. A nearby gully, which was filled with loosely packed stones, is interpreted as a modern drainage channel.

While the outer bank is of modern date, no date can be suggested at this time for the inner series of banks. The stratigraphic relationship between the inner and outer series of banks could not be established during the assessment. Either the inner banks are part of the same garden feature or they may represent an earlier feature surrounded at a later stage by another bank. Monitoring of topsoil-stripping in this area, in an attempt to date the inner banks, is scheduled to take place during the summer of 1998.

Westlink Enterprise Centre, Belfast