County: Limerick Site name: ROBERTSTOWN (BGE 3/45/2)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0832
Author: Emer Dennehy, for Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 526786m, N 649360m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.590586, -9.080522
The site was exposed during monitoring of topsoil-stripping along Section 3 of the Bord Gáis Éireann Pipeline to the West, from Goatisland, Co. Limerick, to Gort, Co. Galway. This site was on a flat plain of land 200m east of the main Foynes to Shanagolden road (R521). It was situated in low-level bogland and commanded extensive, uninterrupted views of the surrounding terrain. A small stream was situated just 15m west of the site, adjacent to which was a fulacht fiadh complex, BGE 3/45/1, excavated by Kate Taylor (see No. 1179, Excavations 2002, 02E0899).
The site was originally identified during monitoring as a spread of burnt material and burnt clay. It was thought to be a pit or hearth site, measuring 1.7m by 2.35m. On excavation, the site proved to be a subcircular spread of burnt-mound material measuring 4.1m north–south by 3.3m, with an average depth of 0.05m. The spread was composed of 35% heat-shattered limestone and sandstone in a charcoal-enriched, silty clay matrix. What had been interpreted as an area of burnt clay and a possible hearth site was in fact an oxidised, orange, natural clay lying beneath the burnt-mound material.
The site consisted of a shallow spread of burnt-mound material composed predominantly of burnt limestone. Given the proximity of the fulachta fiadh complex, just 15m to the west, it is probable that this site is displaced mound material from the complex.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
