2006:171 - BUSHERSTOWN, Carlow

The site was excavated as part of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford scheme: Kilcullen to Powerstown. Testing carried out under Ministerial Direction A021/029 on this site in 2005 (Excavations 2005, No. 78) identified a small circular pit, 0.5m in diameter and 0.12m deep, and filled with heat-shattered stones with frequent charcoal flecks, similar to the type of deposits associated with fulachta fiadh. A curving ditch, 1.1m wide and 0.2m deep, was also noted nearby.

An area of 20m2 was stripped. The area was covered in parallel modern agricultural furrows and several cut features were interpreted as the socket holes left by the removal of rocks and boulders for building stone and general agricultural field clearance. Two other amorphous pits may have had an archaeological origin.

The curving ditch was further exposed in plan and seen to be a shallow former stream channel running across the site, downslope from north-west to south-east. This appeared to be heading for a point where it would join a similar stream from the adjacent site. These stream channels would have been superseded by the modern field boundary ditch nearby to the south.

The most substantial archaeological feature was a large pit filled with burnt material, charcoal and heat-shattered stones. This highly irregularly shaped feature was c. 5m long by 1.55m wide by 0.83m deep, had a very uneven and irregular base and had been recut at least once. Although its fills resembled the burnt deposits associated with fulachta fiadh, two sherds of medieval pottery and part of an iron object were found in them. The purpose of this feature was unclear, although samples from the fills may help to shed some light on the matter.

Unit 1, Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork