2004:0932 - AGHABOE, Laois

The site of Aghaboe, SMR 22:19(01-21), is located on flat lowland ground. It encompasses parts of the townlands of Aghaboe, Corraun, Cross, Friarsland and Shrule. The SMR lists a total of 21 sites in the complex, of which eleven are listed in the RMP. The listed sites in the complex include: a friary and a parish church, an ecclesiastical enclosure, a font, grave slab, holy well, motte, town, a possible souterrain architectural fragment, a road, a habitation site, a holy tree, a cairn, a settlement and enclosures.

Testing was carried out on the site of a proposed development in the field to the south-west of the abbey within the designated archaeological zone. Ten trenches were excavated using a mechanical digger with a toothless bucket. In Trench 1 the soil profile consisted of a sandy stone-free A horizon beneath a thin layer of sod. This overlay a stony boulder clay B horizon at a depth of 0.45–0.5m. There were no finds. Narrow cultivation features were recorded running diagonally across the trench in a roughly east-west orientation. These measured 0.35m in width and were recorded at c. 0.5m intervals. There was no indication of date. In Trench 2 cultivation features similar to those described in Trench 1 were again recorded. In this instance, however, there was evidence for at least two phases of cultivation features, with earlier cultivation trenches orientated roughly north-south. Again there were no finds or indications of date. No features of archaeological interest were uncovered in Trench 3. In Trench 4 the soil profile was as elsewhere. Cultivation trenches were dug into the B horizon. In this instance two distinct types were recognised. These were broad, up to 0.9m in width alternating with others c. 0.15m in width. Both types were orientated east-west and were parallel to each other. In Trench 5 cultivation furrows were cut into the B horizon, orientated east-west and set 1.5m apart. The average width was 0.3m. The depth of the furrows was quite shallow (0.1m max.) and the fill was a rich humic soil. In Trench 6 the cultivation furrows were again recorded and were indicative of multi-period use. The width varied from 0.1m to 0.3m and the furrows were orientated both east-west and slightly off this alignment. In Trench 7 two sets of cultivation features were recorded, orientated east-west and north-south. In Trench 8 cultivation features recorded were c. 0.2m wide and rather irregular in plan, orientated roughly east-west. Nothing of archaeological significance was recorded in either of Trenches 9 and 10.

New Road, Portlaoise, Co. Laois