County: Louth Site name: TATTYBOYS/KNOCKLORE/COOKSTOWN/RAHANNA/HARRISTOWN/GLEBE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: Included site of SMR 14:14 Licence number: 98E0125
Author: Thaddeus C. Breen, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd.
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 692081m, N 795613m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.901722, -6.598804
Monitoring was carried out of topsoil-stripping on the 5.5km-long line of the widening and other improvements taking place on the N2 running north-east from Ardee. Nine spreads of burnt material were found and excavated (Sites A–I). No other archaeological features were found.
Sites B, C, D and E were thin spreads of grey soil, some with flecks of charcoal.
Site F (Td Knocklore; 29265 29527) was similar to these but contained some cremated human bone, along with some fragments of cattle bone. It was approximately circular, with a diameter of c. 0.9m.
Site G (Td Knocklore; 292847 295189) consisted of three circular, dish-shaped hollows filled with burnt stone and black, charcoal-rich soil. There were no finds.
Site A (Td Tattyboys; 292348 295504) was a spread of burnt stone and charcoal-rich soil covering an approximately triangular area measuring 9m x 5m. One side was cut away by a pipe-trench before the commencement of excavation. The average depth of the burnt spread was 0.25m, and it overlay hard yellow clay. Four features were dug into the clay. Two parallel furrows 0.2m wide and 60mm deep were also cut through the burnt material and were filled with the brown soil that overlay it. The burnt material at this point was 70mm thick. A shallow posthole (oval in plan, 0.28m x 0.21m in diameter and 0.11m deep), an oval pit (0.8m x 0.55m in diameter and 0.3m deep) and a rectangular pit (2.26m x 1.27m and 0.5m deep) were all filled with burnt stones and charcoal-rich soil. Three flat stones lay on the base of the latter at one end. A few whole fragments of charcoal were found in the fill. Apart from these the charcoal was comminuted, and there were no artefacts at all found on this site.
Site I (Td Cookstown; 293107 294920) was a spread of burnt stones and charcoal-rich soil measuring 11m x 9m at least (to the north-west it extended beyond the take of the road and so could not be investigated further in that direction). The depth ranged from 0.1m to 0.3m, except at the edges, where it tapered off. It lay on top of yellow/grey clay with many stones, and in places the bedrock was exposed. The surface was very uneven in places, with numerous hollows of various sizes, but all apparently natural. Part of the area, however, appeared to consist of a flat platform, and it was here that a rectangular pit was found cut into the surface. The 'platform' was bounded on two sides by hollows that may have been artificially deepened but appeared to be primarily natural. The rectangular pit measured 2.5m x 1.2m and was c. 0.3m deep. A piece of stone with incised lines was found near the base of the layer in one of the hollows, and a few pieces of cattle bone (some burnt) and teeth were also found.
Site H (Td Cookstown; 292934 295028) consisted of a spread of burnt stones covering an area measuring c. 8m x 6m. Charcoal-rich soil was present in the upper 0.1m. Adjoining the deposit was a pond, part of which had been reclaimed by filling it with stones. This, and the presence of a modern coin in the burnt layer, suggests that it was a similar site to A and I but was subsequently disturbed.
13 Wainsfort Crescent, Dublin 6W
