County: Limerick Site name: KILLELINE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 36:78 Licence number: 03E1626
Author: Lar Dunne, Eachtra Archaeological Projects
Site type: Designed landscape - tree-ring
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 528195m, N 632404m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.438393, -9.056070
Limerick County Council requested an assessment at a proposed housing development near the site of a ringfort. The site is located south of Newcastle West in the townland of Killeline. The area forms part of a golf course developed c. 60 years ago. The site of a ringfort, marked on the third-edition OS map but not on the first, was planted with coniferous trees.
Ten trenches were excavated in the area of the tree ring/ringfort. No surface trace of an enclosing bank or ditch was discernible. A slight shallow scarp on the exterior of the tree ring was noticeable on the western side. The trenches radiated outwards from the perimeter of the tree ring. The topsoil in the trenches was, on average, 0.2m in depth. The subsoil was, for the most part, an orange/brown clay. A number of modern drains were recorded in Trenches 1-4 and 8-10. No evidence of a bank or ditch was recorded in any of the trenches. No evidence was recorded to suggest that a ringfort was located at this site. It is likely that the site is a tree ring feature and that it was classified as an archaeological site on cartographic evidence.
3 Canal Place, Tralee, Co. Kerry
