County: Limerick Site name: FANNINGSTOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 21:62 Licence number: 97E0408 ext.
Author: Tracy Collins, Aegis Archaeology
Site type: Enclosure
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 558079m, N 647326m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.575621, -8.618469
This site, a mound 22m in diameter with no enclosing element extant, was first test-trenched by Colin Gracie before construction of the Croom Bypass. Its archaeological merit was proved by the identification of a ditch associated with it and by a medieval stick-pin recovered from one of the trenches (Excavations 1997, 114).
It was suggested by the client, the Roads Design Office of Limerick County Council, that the only intrusive works at the site would be the digging of two parallel toe drains, 180m and 120m long and 1.5m wide. The proposed location of the drains was dug by hand, and any archaeological material was recorded and removed.
The longer of the drain trenches ran adjacent to the enclosure, but no archaeological features were encountered. Two artefacts of interest were recovered from the topsoil in the trench: an iron Jew's Harp and a fragment of medieval local ware.
The second trench cut the eastern edge of the enclosure for a length of 30m. The remainder of the trench yielded only modern features and finds. It was found that the enclosure was encircled by a ditch, which appeared on the north and south side of a platform interpreted as the interior of the ringfort. Approximately 10m south of the enclosure ditch a second ditch was discovered, but, owing to the narrowness of the trench, its relationship with the enclosure was unclear. The northern ditch cut was 0.9m deep, 3.8m wide and U-shaped in profile, with five distinctive fills. The ditch on the south side was much larger and appeared to have been recut twice. Its first phase had a U-shaped cut and three fills. The second phase also had a U-shaped cut and three fills. The first phase was 1.8m deep and 9.9m wide, a very large ditch by ringfort standards. The recut of the ditch was 0.8m deep and 2.9m wide. It appears that this recut could have functioned as a field boundary ditch rather than being related to the enclosure.
Despite the narrowness of the trench, it may be suggested that there were two phases of activity in the interior of the enclosure. Phase 1 dug into the layers of a natural mound and was represented by two probable curving slot-trenches and a house floor. These features seemed to have been deliberately covered by a layer of clay into which the second phase of activity was cut. This phase was also represented by two U-shaped trenches, tentatively interpreted as house slots. In turn these features were sealed by a layer that marked the abandonment of the site as a place of habitation.
Unfortunately, no diagnostic artefacts were recovered from the excavation and none were found in sealed features. Also, the nature of the trenches dug provided a narrow view of the archaeology, which made interpretation difficult. It was impossible to say whether the slot-trenches represented circular or rectangular structures.
16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick
