County: Tipperary Site name: RIAN BÓ PHÁDRAIG, Kildanoge
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 91:00102 Licence number: 97E0482
Author: Mary O'Donnell
Site type: Linear earthwork
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 606633m, N 611381m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.254105, -7.902838
The site at Kildanoge is located on the eastern bank of the Glengalla River, on the slopes of the Knockmealdown Mountains c. 2.2km south of Gotenbridge village, Co. Tipperary. It was part of the linear earthwork known as the Rian Bó Phádraig, a possible Early Christian ecclesiastical trackway which linked Cashel and Lismore.
A cutting approximately 8m north–south x 6m east–west was excavated across the earthwork in advance of development over two weeks in December 1997. The excavation revealed that a linear U-shaped trench had been dug through a natural gravel bank and the base of the trench had been covered with a layer of water-rolled pebbles. These pebbles seem to have been laid down to form a rough surface along the length of the trench.
There was no direct evidence to date the construction of the trackway, but the unabraded condition of the trench indicates that the feature as it appears today may be of relatively recent construction, perhaps within the last century, although it is likely that it was built on the line of an earlier feature which continued to be used over a long period of time.
Archaeological Services Unit, University College Cork
