2001:722 - RATHMILES, Laois

Test excavation was undertaken on the site of a monument classified as an enclosure at Rathmiles, Co. Laois, on 6 and 11 December 2001. An irregular enclosure (max. dim. c. 50m north–south) is hachured on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map. The proposed development comprises the construction of a golf-course, hotel, clubhouse, shop/petrol filling station and 104 houses on a c. 250-acre site at Rathleash, Rathmiles and Tirhogar townlands, Portarlington, Co. Laois. The monument is on the site of the first fairway of the proposed golf-course. This area was stripped of topsoil prior to testing but subsequent site inspection revealed no trace of the monument.

Testing comprised the mechanical excavation of two trenches on the site of the monument. Trench 1 extended 80m north-west/south-east through the approximate centre of the monument, and Trench 2 extended 33m south-west from the mid-point of Trench 1. Three sections of a 4–5m-wide curvilinear ditch, enclosing a large subcircular area, and human bones, representing the remains of possibly ten individuals, were discovered during testing. The curvilinear ditch is undoubtedly associated with the earthwork enclosure indicated on the 1841 Ordnance Survey map. The main ditch fill was mid-brown loose, silty sand with inclusions of gravel, small stones and flecks of charcoal. The underlying fill, which was exposed at the outer edges of the ditch, was slightly darker and contained more gravel and small stones. Mixed light brown and grey clayey/silty sand with frequent inclusions of small and medium stones occurred on the inner edge of the ditch. This may represent the remains of a levelled internal bank.

Several burials were exposed in the southern quadrant of the enclosure. The state of preservation of the human remains varied but many of the exposed bones, particularly those in Trench 2, were very fragmented. It is not clear whether this disturbance is a result of recent site activity (i.e. topsoil removal and machinery traffic) or earlier earth-moving operations associated with the post-1841 destruction of the monument. No finds or features were discovered during testing that might indicate a date for the burials, but the east–west orientation of the skeletons suggests a Christian burial.

Other features discovered within the enclosure include two narrow linear cuts, 0.55m wide, and a small circular feature, 0.4m in diameter, possibly a post-hole. It was not clear whether these are associated with the monument or are a result of later agricultural activity on the site. In accordance with the recommendations of Dúchas, the layout of the first fairway is being redesigned in order to ensure preservation in situ of the archaeological material.

31 Ashbrook, Oranmore, Co. Galway