1997:526 - LISHEEN MINE, Killoran, Tipperary

Archaeological monitoring of construction of the Lisheen Mine, near Moyne, Co. Tipperary (NR), commenced in September 1997 and is still ongoing, alongside post-excavation analysis. Above-ground works associated with the lead–zinc mine required earth-moving on a very large scale. Construction affected a c. 200ha area over four townlands near the Kilkenny border: Barnalisheen, Cooleeny, Derryfadda and Killoran. A dozen new sites, all in the Killoran townland, including two fulachtaí fiadh, two cremation cemeteries, a substantial Bronze Age settlement and a Neolithic occupation site, were revealed in 1997. The sites were located across an undulating terrain of low eskers, peat-filled hollows and flat reclaimed marshland and adjacent to the raised bog of Derryville, where a substantial quantity of wetland prehistoric and early medieval sites have been uncovered (Excavations 1996, 102–15, and Excavations 1997, Nos 500–504 and 517–525). All sites were assigned a ‘KIL:’ suffix to differentiate those in Killoran townland from Derryville bog (‘DER’), also in Killoran townland. Those dealt with under this licence number are listed below; further licence numbers were assigned for larger discrete sites and these are detailed separately.

Rath House, Ferndale Road, Rathmichael, Co. Dublin