County: Laois Site name: GORTNAGROAGH 1
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A015/079
Author: Ed Danaher, for Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd, Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth.
Site type: Possible post-medieval industrial activity
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 634986m, N 685975m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.923461, -7.479710
An assessment was carried out in advance of the proposed M7 Portlaoise–Castletown/M8 Portlaoise–
Cullahill motorway scheme between February and June 2005. The work was carried out in March 2005 on behalf of Laois County Council and the National Roads Authority. An archaeological site designated Gortnagroagh 1 was identified in Testing Area 1 by Anne-Marie Lennon (see No. 918 below) and consisted of two groups of pits.
Excavation of this site revealed a series of associated drains and a large oval pit measuring 4m by 3.3m by 1.4m. This pit may have acted as a sump for a large linear drain orientated north–south that directly fed the sump. A small stone-lined drain aligned east–west was possibly used to drain the overflow from the sump. A rectangular pit with dimensions of 2.4m by 1.2m by 0.27m was located close by. All of these features contained post-medieval pottery, while both pits contained heat-shattered sandstone and the possible sump also contained a number of cow horns. It is conceivable that this site was used in the processing of cow horns on a small scale. A structure shown on the first-edition OS map near to this site may have been related to this activity.
