County: Limerick Site name: ADAMSWOOD
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1214
Author: Sarah McCutcheon, Limerick County Council
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 541188m, N 642946m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.534694, -8.866871
Monitoring (No. 1071, Excavations 2002, 01E1087) of the Croagh Sewerage Scheme was carried out. The treatment plant and associated pipework are situated in a greenfield site to the south-east of Croagh village. Topsoil-stripping had revealed eight burnt spreads. Five of these were concentrated in an area measuring c. 50m east–west and were excavated under this licence.
Most of the burnt spreads were in a localised hollow caused by a dip in the bedrock in the northern half of the wayleave corridor. A layer of peat, up to 0.2m deep, had formed above the rock, and the remains of the burnt spread material lay immediately above the peat.
The first burnt spread was c. 454m west of the treatment plant. It measured c. 9m east–west by 3.6m and was 0.1–0.34m deep. It had no associated features but continued beyond the northern limit of excavation. To the west, a stone-filled land drain extended north–south across the wayleave. One piece of medieval pottery was recovered from the drain. The second burnt spread was at the southern limit of the wayleave, overlying the boulder clay. It measured c. 4.1m east–west by 4.6m and was 38mm deep. North-west of this, the third area consisted of a thin smear of carbonised material overlying peat. This measured 4m east–west by 5.6m and was 80mm deep. A second north–south land drain was found to the west. The fourth burnt spread was the most complete to be excavated. It measured 10.5m east–west by 6.5–9.6m and was 0.21m deep. It included an oval trough, measuring 1.63m by 0.77m and up to 0.22m deep. The trough was lined on the base with wooden planks. Several small pits, post-holes and stake-holes were uncovered underneath the burnt-mound material.
The final area was c. 510m from the treatment plant and lay beyond the dip in the bedrock; consequently the remains overlay boulder clay rather than peat. It initially comprised four discrete areas of carbonised silt. Two small patches of carbonised silt (1.8m (east–west) by 1.2m by 10mm deep, and 0.69m (east–west) by 0.53m by 10mm deep) occurred at the southern limit of the wayleave. A small pit and four stake-holes were revealed beneath the larger patch. To the west of these was a large subrectangular pit, 2.7m by 1.6m by 0.58m deep. Another large subrectangular area of carbonised silt, 4.2m north–south by 2m by 0.2m deep, occurred to the north of the pit or trough.
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