County: Westmeath Site name: ROCHFORT DEMESNE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A006/005
Author: Carmel Duffy, for V.J. Keeley Ltd, Brehon House, Kilkenny Road, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny.
Site type: Pyrolithic deposit and trough
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 642689m, N 746809m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.469602, -7.357025
This site, excavated as part of the N52 road-improvement scheme, consisted of the remains of a possible burnt mound or fulacht fiadh measuring 10m by 8.6m. The general topography of the area consists of low ridges of rock outcrop, c. 100m OD, with boggy patches in between. The site was located at 95m OD near the crest of an east–west ridge, on its south-facing slope. The ground fell southwards on the site, and beyond the southern limit of the excavated area there was a low-lying area with vegetation characteristic of waterlogged ground.
The subsoil on the site consisted principally of light-grey sterile silt. A band of yellow/brown sandy stony gravel occurred running north–south in the centre of the site.
Besides the deposit, the only feature was a shallow rectangular cut, representing a trough. There were eighteen stake-holes associated with the trough. Small amounts of charcoal were retrieved from the post-holes and the lower part of the trough. Otherwise there was a dearth of charcoal in the deposit. The remainder of the deposit was very thin and was probably truncated by later activity on the site after the time of deposition. The four finds were from the early modern period.
The site extended to the east outside the road-take, under the existing N52.
