1999:828 - 26 KILLEENYARDA, Holycross, Tipperary
County: Tipperary
Site name: 26 KILLEENYARDA, Holycross
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 47:29
Licence number: 99E0224
Author: Paul Stevens
Author/Organisation Address: Farney Bridge, Holycross, Co. Tipperary
Site type: Ringfort - unclassified
Period/Dating: Early Medieval (AD 400-AD 1099)
ITM: E 607199m, N 653657m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.634086, -7.893636
Assessment took place before development adjacent to a ringfort. The site is 1 mile south of the 12th-century Cistercian Holycross Abbey (SMR 47:110). The ringfort has a shallow, overgrown outer ditch and bank visible, surviving to a height of 0.5m. The north-western corner of the property cuts into the bank of the monument. The proposed development sought to demolish the existing dwelling and build an extended house and septic tank on the site.
Three linear test-trenches were opened for the assessment, in the north-west corner of the site, and revealed the partially truncated enclosing ditch of the fort. This was a V-shaped enclosing ditch, 3.2m wide and 0.6m+ deep, giving an external diameter of 42.5m. A second V-shaped ditch was revealed, 6–8m from the inner ditch, 2.4m wide and 0.4m+ deep, with an external diameter of 57m. Several post-holes were noted between the two ditches but no trace of an outer bank.
Two unassociated features were also revealed, which represented a later boundary ditch and the terminus of a ditch or pit. The development plans were revised to avoid these ditches and move away from the monument. Monitoring of construction was recommended.