County: Laois Site name: DERRINSALLAGH (3)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A015/69
Author: Anne-Marie Lennon, for Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Enclosure
Period/Dating: Early Medieval (AD 400-AD 1099)
ITM: E 624920m, N 685953m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.923825, -7.629400
An environmental impact assessment noted a kink in the field boundary at this location on the M7 Portlaoise–Castletown/M8 Portlaoise–Cullahill motorway scheme, Contract 1, Testing Area 13, and highlighted the possibility of an enclosure. Testing uncovered a circular enclosure and associated features. An area measuring 5890m2 was topsoil-stripped, revealing the full extent of the site and associated features. The enclosure was truncated by the R435, the Borris in Ossory to Rathdowney road.
The enclosure measured 50m in diameter and was enclosed by a V-shaped ditch that measured between 3.5 and 3.8m wide by 1.5m deep. The fill of the ditch comprised layers of compacted silt and clay. Present within the ditch fill along the south and west sides were dumps of stones. The stone may have been used as a facing or revetment on the upper face of the inner ditch. No trace of an enclosing bank was uncovered nor was an entrance found in the section of the excavated ditch. The features uncovered on the interior of the site consisted of two small circular pits, a scatter of six post-holes in the north-west quadrant and an area of metalled or compacted stone forming a rough surface. The stones used in the surface were small flat pebbles. The area covered measured 2m by 1m and was located to the centre of the enclosure.
Two linear field drains were uncovered extending outwards from the enclosing ditch. The field drain on the north side was 1.1m deep by 1.3m wide. Cut into the silt infill of the drain were a series of cereal-drying kilns. The latest and best preserved of these kilns was keyhole-shaped and orientated east–west with a stone-lined bowl. It measured 1.5m wide by 3m long. The second linear field drain extended out from the south side of the enclosure.
South-east of the enclosure at a distance of 10m, a cluster of 25 post-holes and a possible hearth were found. The outer posts had a subrectangular outline and measured 4.4m by 3.8m on the north and east sides but were incomplete on the west and south sides. The inner line of post-holes formed an arc around the hearth on the west side. Neither group of post-holes formed a complete structure. Excavation will continue in 2006.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
