2000:1021 - MULLINGAR (Area H), Westmeath

This area, identified during monitoring of the N4 Mullingar Realignment and Widening Scheme, consisted of three separate archaeological features: a shallow subcircular pit, an irregularly shaped pit and a pit containing charcoal and burnt limestone fragments.

Pit 222 was a circular pit some 0.7–0.8m in diameter and 0.08m deep. The fill was a dark orangey-brown, silty clay, containing a few small flecks of charcoal. There was no evidence of burning in situ; no artefacts were recovered during the excavation. The shallowness of this feature suggests that it either suffered some degree of truncation through agricultural activity or was initially a shallow feature.

Pit 232, located some 20m east of Pit 222, was almost oval, orientated north–south, and measured 2.12m by 1.7m with a depth of 0.5m. The pit contained four fills: the primary, ash-like fill had accumulated within the pit from the south-east side during the life of the pit; the second consisted of a layer of crushed, charred material lying in the base of the pit, which had been deposited within the pit rather than being the result of in situ burning. The sides of the pit showed no evidence of scorching. The later fills would appear to represent deliberate filling of the feature after it fell into disuse.

No artefacts were recovered during its excavation, but sieving of samples taken from the fills has yielded charred grain.

Pit 238 was located east of Pit 232 and was positioned at the edge of an area of marshy ground that contained shallow peat deposits. Measuring 3m north–south by 2.4m, this pit had been filled with charcoal and burnt limestone and was sealed by a layer of peat formation that was disturbed during topsoil-stripping. Excavations revealed the base of the pit to be 0.7m below ground level and stepped to a depth of 0.94m at the south. This step seems to have been deliberately excavated to reach the water-table, and it was from this deepest point in the pit that water issued into the pit. In the lower levels of the pit waterlogged wood fragments (probably derived from the surrounding peat formation) and occasional bone fragments survived, along with charcoal and burnt limestone fragments. The fill and general character of this pit were similar to that excavated in Area B on the same scheme (see Excavations 2000, No. 1018) and may have been used in the processing of raw materials, such as flax, for a local textile industry. The eastern edge of the pit had been disturbed by the cutting of a modern land drain that ran across the site from north to south. No artefacts were recovered from the fill of the pit; however, samples taken from its fill are awaiting analysis to determine the function of this pit and those excavated in Area B. There was no stratigraphic relationship between any of the above features.

3 Canal Place, Tralee, Co. Kerry