County: Limerick Site name: BALLYNAGALLAGH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 96E0249
Author: Rose M. Cleary, Dept of Archaeology, University College Cork
Site type: Enclosure
Period/Dating: Early Medieval (AD 400-AD 1099)
ITM: E 564358m, N 639247m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.503454, -8.524976
The excavation at Ballynagallagh was financed by a grant from the National Committee for Archaeology of the Royal Irish Academy. The site is an oval enclosure (100m x 140m) on the western edge of a former lake now known as Red Bog. The excavations were carried out over three seasons (1994, 1996 and 1997) and the aim was to determine the morphology of the site and its place in the overall chronological framework of the Lough Gur area of east Limerick.
The site includes a trackway along the western perimeter of the enclosure and this is dated (by radiocarbon determinations) to the 7th century AD. The trackway appears to continue beyond the boundary of the enclosure to the north.
The western side of the enclosure is defined by two concentric rows of large postholes which must have held substantial posts for a timber palisade. This palisade is dated (by radiocarbon determinations) to the 8th century AD. Excavations have uncovered a number of pits, post- and stake-holes and habitation layers, indicating that the site was domestic in function. The finds are undiagnostic of any specific period and include a considerable amount of chert and flint debitage.
