County: Limerick Site name: DOLLAS LOWER (BGE 3/67/6)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0632
Author: Kate Taylor, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Field boundary
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 548578m, N 639371m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.503309, -8.757397
This site was examined as part of Bord Gáis Éireann’s Pipeline to the West. A large north–south-aligned ditch was visible for a length of 14m, although it probably extended beyond the excavated area in both directions. Four slots were excavated, measuring 6.85m in combined length. For most of its length the ditch was c. 2m wide; however, a short stretch toward the southern end measured 2.75m. The sides were generally steeply concave, although the wider section to the south had a more gently concave profile. The base was roughly flat, and the ditch was 0.65–0.86m deep.
The stratigraphy of the fills was fairly consistent along the length of the ditch, although not all deposits were seen in all slots. The primary and secondary fills were silty clays, probably the result of natural silting. A dark grey/brown layer containing charcoal overlay the silting; this was overlain by a deposit of large stones. Finally, a thin deposit of mid-orange silty clay, similar to the lower fills, overlay the stones in places.
Eight artefacts were recovered, almost all from the dark layer or the upper fill. Three ceramic items consisted of a sherd of green-glazed pottery that appears to be medieval and two fragments of coarse pottery, fired clay or daub. A fragment of post-medieval bottle glass was found in the upper fill. Three pieces of bone and an oyster shell complete the assemblage.
The size of this isolated ditch is unlike those of most of the post-medieval drainage features encountered in the area and is more suggestive of a boundary feature. It is possible that, despite the post-medieval glass in the upper fill, the feature was an earlier boundary ditch, perhaps medieval in date. The deposit of large stones may indicate deliberate backfilling of the ditch, which at that stage had largely silted up. The stones may have derived from a demolished wall or agricultural improvement, a practice that was common from the late 18th century onward.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
