1999:486 - BALLYGEALE (Site 2), Limerick

This site was c. 2km from Patrickswell, on the east side of the existing road to Croom (N20). It lies just below the crest of a low, flat-topped, north-facing ridge, 200m south of Ballygeale 1 (No. 485, Excavations 1999), which was excavated concurrently. The site was discovered in June 1999 during monitoring of topsoil-stripping on the N20/N21 Road Improvement Scheme.

The surface of the site was cleaned to reveal a number of features appearing as largely brownish-orange fills against a mixed, natural subsoil consisting of loose gravel and brownish-grey, sandy silt clay.

Excavation revealed a shallow, c. 1m-wide ditch running across the site for 21m in a south-west/ north-east orientation, merging with a shallow pit at the eastern limit of the site. Immediately north-west of this pit was a shallower, slightly wider ditch at right angles to the first, which was traced for 5.5m. These ditches seem to form the corner of a rectangular enclosure. With the exception of two isolated features, all the activity on the site was concentrated within the angle formed by these ditches.

The first ditch was cut by an irregular, shallow pit, midway along its length. There was a line of four small post-holes in the bottom of this pit and a further two in its south-west corner. North-west of this was a shallow depression that had post-holes along its north-eastern edge. These, together with several adjacent post-holes (some of which contained packing stones), form a roughly subrectangular pattern (c. 2m x 4m) and may define a small, rectangular structure.

Some 3m south-west of the longer ditch was a shallow, squarish (1.2m x 1.1m) feature that was lined with stones; this may have been a hearth. Finally, a single pit was identified c. 15m south of the other features. This pit was circular in plan (1.6m diameter) and had steeply sloping sides and a regular, slightly dished base. The basal fill was composed of many successive layers of coloured ash. There was a small post-hole on the north edge of the pit and a somewhat larger one dug into its base. The pit may have had another function before being used to dump ash in.

The ditches can be interpreted as field boundaries, while the other features may indicate that there was some small-scale domestic or industrial activity in the corner of a field, as suggested by the charcoal-rich pit and hearth. The finds from the excavation consisted solely of some small scraps of animal bone. It is hoped that these, together with charcoal and ash samples, will provide enough material for radiocarbon dates.

Editor's Note: This site was formerly labelled as 'Undated field boundary and pits'.

Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Dublin 3