County: Tipperary Site name: MODESHIL
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 63:23 Licence number: 05E0438
Author: Richard Clutterbuck, Mohober, Mullinahone, Co. Tipperary.
Site type: Bowl furnace
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 635365m, N 643324m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.540113, -7.478657
Following a request for further information on a proposed private dwelling, an assessment was carried out at Modeshil, Co. Tipperary. Modeshil is the site of a medieval rural borough and is located 3.5km north-north-east of Mullinahone and 5.9km west of the medieval walled town of Callan. The proposed house is located 193m to the east of the medieval church and the crossroads, which presumably formed the focus of the medieval settlement.
Four test-trenches were excavated across the areas of greatest impact of the proposed dwelling with the assistance of a JCB mechanical excavator. The trenches were up to 2m wide and were 10–40m long. Test-trench 1 was excavated along the line of the proposed entrance avenue; a single archaeological feature was exposed within, 23m from the north-western end. This consisted of a plough-truncated oval pit measuring 1.3m by 1.1m and 0.11m deep (top level 90.89m OD). The cut had a sharp break of slope at the top, sloping sides and an imperceptible break of slope at the base. The natural edges of the pit showed signs of burning in situ. A quarter-section of the pit revealed a single fill consisting of dark-brown, fine-grained sediment, with a plastic, sandy, clay composition. The fill contained occasional pebbles and slag, but no archaeological artefacts. The slag would appear to indicate that the pit was associated with metal- or ironworking. This may either have been the smelting of iron ore to produce a cake of bloom, or a bowl hearth for working iron objects. The bowl furnace at Modeshil may date from any time between the later prehistoric and medieval periods. No other features or artefacts of archaeological significance were discovered during the test excavation, suggesting that the settlement in this area was not intense. Most of the medieval settlement activity is likely to be located adjacent to the road, 38m from the proposed house. It was recommended that the avenue be altered to preserve the burnt pit in situ and that the groundworks for the proposed house be monitored.
