County: Tipperary Site name: DER312, Killoran
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0160
Author: Sarah Cross, Lisheen Archaeological Project
Site type: Road - unclassified togher
Period/Dating: Iron Age (800 BC-AD 339)
ITM: E 622175m, N 666665m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.750595, -7.671525
This was a brushwood track leading to a hurdle, built in three phases, dating from 385–50 BC (attached to DER75 [Excavations 1997, No. 521]). In Phase 1 a regular layer of brushwood measuring 3m by 1m was laid on top of a stump. In Phase 2 a hurdle was laid on top of this. In Phase 3 a thick layer of brushwood measuring 2.2m by 1m was laid to connect these features to DER75.
This track was constructed on the south edge of the pool of rannock rush described in DER75. An inlet of the pool ran between the two sites. The first phase of construction was on top of an alder stump and there was an alder tree between the two sites. The site provided access from and to the southern limb of the arc of alder carr which surrounded the wetter pool peats.
The site originally provided a different route to the same place as DER75, but when the two sites were linked it extended the working space around the edge of the pool. The time-frame for this change was probably fairly short, a few years at most. It may even be that the sequence reflects construction. The approach from the alder carr was taken to make extension easier.
This hurdle was smaller than that found at DER75 and was less important to the function of the site. It measured 3.4m by 0.9m. The weave was regular—single rods woven around double sails. The length of the hurdle may have been truncated by a Bord na Móna drain.
Minorco Lisheen Ltd, Killoran, Moyne, Co. Tipperary
