County: Tipperary Site name: DER54 AND DER56, Killoran
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 96E0202ext.
Author: Cara Murray, Lisheen Archaeological Project, for Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Post row - peatland and Structure
Period/Dating: Early Medieval (AD 400-AD 1099)
ITM: E 622354m, N 666589m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.749905, -7.668879
The final sites excavated dated from the medieval period. Most of the surviving material from this era was located outside the study area, in Killoran townland, north-west of the TMF footprint. Within the TMF, a stake row was sited west of this complex and was traced for 406m in a south-easterly direction. The stake row formed a complex linear arrangement, which was in places up to 4–5 stakes wide and elsewhere was more irregular. The arrangement of stakes varied in each field. In most instances the location of the stakes and the structure that they formed was very irregular. However, in general it appeared that the stakes formed two parallel rows with a series of stakes placed in between these.
Unlike many of the other sites examined within the study area, this site was visible as small stakes projecting from the field surface. In many instances only the remaining 20–50mm of the stake survived. In some of these fields the peat had been milled away below the level of the site and no visible trace remained. It was evident that some of the stakes within the structure had been completely milled away. Because of this, caution has been taken in over-interpreting this site until further analysis has been carried out.
Distances between the stakes ranged from 0.16m to 2m, and a number of double and triple stakes were recorded. All of the stakes were set at varying angles between 5° and 85° off vertical, with the majority set between 20° and 45°. There was also a great range in the orientation of the stakes, although the majority were orientated either north-west or south-east. The stakes ranged from 0.04m to 0.41m in surviving length and from 30mm to 5mm in diameter. Roughly 90% were worked to a chisel point and all were very straight-grained and regular in size.
No close parallel is known for a stake row of this complexity. The environment in which it was located has been removed by milling. The field surface surrounding the stakes was comprised, for the most part, of moderately/poorly humified Sphagnum peat. The site has been dated to AD 668–884 and preliminary indications suggest that the surviving field surface dates from c. AD 500. It has been noted with interest that the site ran roughly parallel to the Kilkenny–Tipperary border to the east. In addition, the topographical survey indicated that the site ran along the line of an underlying ridge, sloping away to the north-east of the line of the site. This ridge would have created different environmental conditions at the level of the ridge which would have continued to be reflected in the environment, to a lesser extent, as the peat developed.
The final site excavated under this licence consisted of a destroyed brushwood structure in the northern apex of the TMF within raised bog (DER56).
In addition, four sites proved to be purely environmental areas of the marginal forest (DER90, DER222, DER232 and DER303). Also the four sites examined in Kilkenny, which all occurred as isolated pieces of wood, were found to be isolated timbers.
Minorco Lisheen Ltd, Killoran, Moyne, Co. Tipperary
