County: Westmeath Site name: SKEAHANAGH 4
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A015
Author: Lydia Cagney, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd, Castlecomer, County Kilkenny.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 635166m, N 734522m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.359739, -7.471704
This excavation was undertaken as part of the archaeological resolution for the N6 Kilbeggan to Kinnegad dual carriageway, conducted from 7 December 2004 to 23 January 2005. This site was located at the eastern end of a gentle valley of low-lying marshland. It was positioned at a point no less than 50m west of the Kilbeggan branch of the Royal Canal, where the topography changes from upland, hilly terrain to a low-lying marshy bog area, all of which is currently in use as pasture.
Investigation of this site revealed a spread of burnt-mound material, which overlay several unworked timbers averaging 2m in length and 0.2m in width. These were aligned in a roughly north–south direction, varying in some cases by five to ten degrees in all directions. It is concluded that these were deliberately positioned in this manner in order to function as a working platform where activities associated with the site could take place. This particular site was positioned at the exact location where the creamy marl subsoil gave way to bogland; both the timbers and the overlying burnt spread were superimposed upon this marginal area.
