1997:497 - GRALLAGH, Tipperary

Test excavations were undertaken on this site during 4–8 September 1997 on behalf of Tipperary Co. Council in advance of the construction of the N52 Nenagh bypass. The site was located at the south-eastern edge of a probable copse in Grallagh townland, Co. Tipperary.

One trench, measuring 7m x 1m, was hand-excavated through the enclosing bank of the probable copse in order to reveal potential archaeological strata.

The subsoil was a grey-green compact silty clay. Above it in the northern part of the trench was a red-brown crumbly peaty loam. This had a maximum depth of 0.38m. The layer was much disturbed by tree roots. In the central part of the trench both the natural and the peaty loam were cut by a shallow ditch. The excavated dimensions of the cut measured 2.4m north–south x 1m east–west. It had a maximum depth of 0.4m.

To the north of the ditch the peaty loam was overlain by a redeposited grey-green compact natural clay. The redeposited material, representing an insubstantial bank, had a maximum width of 1m north–south and stood to a height of 0.38m. Stratigraphically above this, the ditch was filled by a medium compact brown loam containing potsherds of post-medieval date (most likely 19th-century). A light brown friable loam overlay the ditch fill and contained finds, such as metal cans, datable to the 20th century. Close to the southern limit of the trench the light brown loam was overlain by a mid-dark brown loam that also contained artefacts datable to the 20th century. The bank and ditch uncovered are likely to be the enclosing features of the probable copse and to date from the 19th century.

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