County: Tipperary Site name: CARRIGATOGHER/TULLAHEDY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0160
Author: Cia McConway, Archaeological Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Industrial site
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 583624m, N 677745m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.850383, -8.243121
A corridor 600m x 20m was monitored along the western limit of the N7, Nenagh Bypass, from Tullahedy (SMR 20:79) in the east, linking up with the N7 in the west. Concerns had been raised because of its proximity to the extensive Neolithic site at Tullahedy excavated by Paul Logue (Excavations 1997, 180–1, 97E0472) and because the townland name, Carrigatogher, suggests the presence of a trackway.
During monitoring, large subrectangular pits, c. 2m x 1m, were uncovered, all lying within a 150m-long corridor. Upon excavation these pits were generally 0.5m deep, cut into the natural (a white lime marl) and were filled with a mixture of peat, clay and sand. Although nothing datable was recovered from the fills, it is likely that these pits form part of the extensive post-medieval/industrial archaeological landscape identified by Logue at Tullahedy, to the immediate north of these pits. The pits appear to have been dug for the purpose of excavating the lime marl, to be used as a fertilizer in the reclaiming of the surrounding bogland. Such activity was common during the 19th century.
Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Fairview, Dublin 3
