1997:536 - KIL:08, Killoran, Tipperary

During the construction phase of the Lisheen Mine a number of house sites were discovered in Killoran townland by Paul Stevens during monitoring of topsoil removal for a peat stockpile and borrow area, under licence no. 97E0372. The peat stockpile was to be located on the western side of Derryville Bog, on a low ridge, within 200m of an area in which a series of excavations of fulachtaí fiadh and trackways had taken place in 1996 and 1997. A wide range of palaeoenvironmental work undertaken in the bog will provide a wider context for the site once its date has been confirmed by radiocarbon determinations.

After consultation with the Heritage Services, the developer halted topsoil removal in the area around the site and two strips were removed to the east and south of the main features to assess the archaeological potential of these areas. As it had not yet been stripped, the ground north of the site was left untouched. The house sites were uncovered in an area of 560m2. The two extensions were 4m wide and were opened for 20m south and 30m east of the main site. No archaeological activity was recorded in the area west of the site during monitoring.

Full excavation of the exposed area took place in the winter of 1997 and identified the presence of three round houses (Houses A, B and C) along with a possible fourth structure (Structure D), south of the main site. A possible fifth, earlier, structure (Structure E) was disturbed by the wall slots of Houses A and B. Finds from the site include some sherds of coarse pottery, a saddle quern fragment, burnt daub, rubbing stones, hammerstones, a possible whetstone, and some struck chert and flint. The coarse pottery appears to be Bronze Age in date.

Houses A, B and C all stood side by side, with the doorway of each affording a view past the wall of the neighbouring structure. It is likely that all three are contemporary.

Modern cultivation marks were present across the top of the whole site, which lay under a depth of up to 0.2m of ploughsoil. In places the ploughing had gone deep enough to expose the limestone bedrock. There were no intact layers associated with any of the structures, which survived as truncated features dug into the subsoil.

In the two extension trenches, south and east of the site, there was no firm evidence of an enclosure around the site. As none was identified to the west of the site either, during monitoring, it appears that the settlement was unenclosed. The ground-plan of the houses is similar to others for which Bronze Age dates have been obtained.

House A
This was the largest house uncovered so far. It measured 9m in diameter and survived as a circular wall slot with a doorway facing south-east. The wall slot contained occasional stake-holes and stone packing and appears to have contained wattle-built walls. The doorway was marked by two postholes on either side of a gap in the wall slot and a single stake-hole at the eastern side of the gap. There was an internal circular setting of six postholes which appears to have contained the roof supports. There was also an additional outer stake setting around the south-eastern half of the house. Opposite the doorway was another gap in the wall slot which may have been a back door. Burnt daub and a number of hammerstones were found in features associated with this house.

House B
Immediately north of House A was a smaller subcircular house, c. 8m in diameter. It had an internal ring of postholes for roof supports which was concentric with the outer wall slot. There was a south-east-facing doorway with two stake-holes on the western side of the door. Again the wall slots contained stake-holes and stone packing, suggesting wattle walls. A number of finds were associated with this house, including some sherds of coarseware and a saddle quern fragment.

House C
This house lay to the north-east of House A and survived as a doorway facing south-east, part of the western wall slot running away from the door and a number of postholes. It lay very close to a modern tree-line and field boundary, which may have removed most of the traces of this house. No other features could be identified with this house.

Structure D
This was uncovered 9m south of House A in the southern extension trench to the main site. A number of features uncovered in this area included an interrupted gully which, on excavation, seemed to contain a doorway, of similar dimensions to that of Houses A, B and C, marked by a stake-hole on the western side. This doorway faced north towards the other houses. There were two postholes set just inside the doorway and a gully, 5m to the south, which may represent the back wall of the structure. The nature of this structure is still problematic and it may be that the gully and ‘doorway’ are part of an enclosure around the main site, although this could not be identified anywhere else.

Structure E
This was a possible post-built structure which was cut by the western side of House A and the eastern side of House B. Three probable structural postholes were identified, along with a large number of other subsidiary features which pre-date the other two houses and seem to form a subrectangular pattern. The identification of these features as a structure is somewhat uncertain.

Investigations of the north-eastern margins of the site, east of House A and north of House C, revealed other features running into areas which have not been exposed. As the developer had agreed to fence off the site, no further excavation took place and these features were covered with plastic, stones and topsoil and left intact.

Minorco Lisheen Ltd, Killoran, Moyne, Co. Tipperary