County: Limerick Site name: ROOSKAGH EAST
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 35:5 Licence number: 01E0454
Author: Ken Wiggins
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 522430m, N 634489m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.456348, -9.141337
A test excavation was carried out on the site of a proposed single dwelling-house development in June 2001. The intended location of the structure was within 12m of the southern edge of a platform ringfort in the adjoining field to the north, and some impact on the archaeology of the monument was a possibility. Five cuttings were mechanically excavated.
Cutting 1, located where the northern limit of the driveway was to be established, revealed the presence of a large feature in the subsoil, containing brown silty clay infill. The feature was relatively close to the remains of the enclosure in the adjoining field, but the evidence indicated that it was not part of the associated fosse. In Cutting 2 to the south, excavated midway across the proposed site of the dwelling-house itself, a small patch of oxidised clay was noted on the surface of the boulder clay. No other evidence of an archaeological nature was revealed in the course of the work.
Owing to the discovery of the large feature in Cutting 1, it was recommended that the repositioning of the dwelling-house and driveway some distance further south should be considered. All ground disturbance on the site will be monitored by an archaeologist.
17 Vartry Close, Raheen, Co. Limerick
