County: Limerick Site name: ANNACOTTY TO ROSSBRIEN, Limerick Southern Ring-Road Project
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0434 ext.
Author: Tony Cummins, Ægis Archaeology Limited
Site type: Excavation - miscellanoeus
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 558459m, N 654544m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.640517, -8.613770
Monitoring of groundworks associated with the construction phase of this road development continued in 2001. Monitoring of ploughing of the route had been undertaken under licence 00E0434 by Rory Sherlock, and several potential sites had been test-trenched (various licences held by Aegis staff). The route for the Limerick Southern Ring-Road begins in the townland of Carrowkeel, about 7km from Limerick City on the main Limerick to Dublin road (N7), where it diverges from the Limerick to Newport road (R504). The route then takes a southern course and curves around Limerick City to the junction at Rossbrien, where this contract ends. This stretch of road is about 12km in length and has a number of slip/side roads and several junctions. The road route crosses through the townlands of Ballyclogh, Ballysimon, Ballysimon (Staunton), Banemore, Bohereen, Carrowkeel, Garraun, Garraunykee, Garryglass, Inchmore, Milltown, Mountshannon, Newtown, Peafield, Rathbane South, Towlerton and Woodstown. The removal of the topsoil material and field boundaries in each of these townlands was monitored.
A wide variety of sites were uncovered along the route in 2001. These were identified through a combination of monitoring and pre-construction test-trenching of areas identified as being of archaeological potential during field-walking of ploughed fields. A number of the sites listed below consist of individual, isolated sites, while others consist of a number of sites in the one locale which were excavated under the one licence. While the pre-construction investigations found most of the archaeological sites, three fulachta fiadh were discovered during the monitoring and were subsequently excavated. Below is a list of the excavations associated with the project:
00E0850 Humic deposit, Towlerton; licence-holder Avril Hayes; see No. 805 Excavations 2001.
00E0852 ext. Fulacht fiadh, Crabbsland; licence-holder Frank Coyne; see No. 755 Excavations 2001.
00E0855 Kiln/associated building/cremation burial, Rathbane South; licence-holder Avril Hayes; see No. 795 Excavations 2001.
01E0030 Inhumation burial, Ballysimon; licence-holder Tracy Collins; see No. 746 Excavations 2001.
01E0056 Two fulachta fiadh/possible prehistoric settlement, Newtown; licence-holder Avril Hayes; see No. 788 Excavations 2001.
01E0214 Early medieval enclosure/Bronze Age settlement and cemetery, Newtown; licence-holder Frank Coyne; see No. 791 Excavations 2001.
01E0406 Fulacht fiadh, Newtown; licence-holder Michael Connolly; see No. 790 Excavations 2001.
01E0484 Fulacht fiadh, Peafield; licence-holder Tracy Collins; see No. 792 Excavations 2001.
01E0762 Fulacht fiadh, Woodstown; licence-holder Michael Connolly; see No. 808 Excavations 2001.
16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick
