County: Wexford Site name: BALLYWILLIAM
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A003/018
Author: Kevin Martin, Valerie J. Keeley Ltd.
Site type: Burnt pit
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 718453m, N 664715m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.720558, -6.246567
The initial identification of archaeological features on the site was confirmed by testing under licence A003/005 as part of the N11 Gorey–Arklow scheme. Excavation commenced in June for a period of two weeks.
The remains on the site consisted of six charcoal-rich features with average dimensions of 1.6m by 1.7m and 0.1m deep. Five of these features were identified as pits. They were oval to rectangular in shape, had concave sides and contained fills of charcoal-rich clayey silt with moderate amounts of heat-cracked and reddened stones. The features were situated on an elevated plateau, measuring 8m by 5m, in the middle of the site. There was no specific alignment or organised distribution to the features. No artefacts were recovered from their fills.
A riverine or hill-wash deposit with charcoal inclusions was also sectioned as a potential archaeological feature. It measured 10m long, 7m wide and 0.22m deep. It was non-archaeological. Three modern field drains were also tested.
Finds consisted of worked flints, all of which were non-stratified. The dating of these features awaits the return of results from the radiocarbon analysis of charcoal samples taken from a number of the pits.
Brehon House, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny
