2006:1001 - Ballynamorahan, Kilkenny

This site was uncovered during archaeological work for the NRA in advance of the N9/N10 Waterford to Powerstown scheme. In June 2006, three areas of excavation were opened in the vicinity of features uncovered in testing (A0032/01–08).
In Area 3 a subrectangular cutting measuring 1154m2 was stripped of topsoil. Two shallow ditches, one running south-west/north-east and the second south-east/north-west, divided the area into two rectangular ‘fields’. In the first of these ‘fields’, at the eastern side of the excavated area, there were 35 small oval pits. All of the pits had metalworking debris in their fills. One particular group of three conjoined pits seemed to be the remains of a small furnace.
South-east of the pits, outside the ditch running south-west/north-east, there was a circular feature. A shallow ditch surrounded an area 7m in diameter with a pit at its centre. The ditch had metalworking debris in its fill. These features may have formed the foundations of an industrial structure associated with the metalworking area. In the second ‘field’, to the north-east, was the remains of a small kiln feature that resembled an early medieval drying kiln excavated by Matthew Seaver at Laughanstown, Co. Dublin (Seaver 2004, 10).
In Area 4, 42m farther north, a second subrectangular cutting, of 1036m2, was stripped of topsoil. The foundations of a circular building were uncovered in the centre of the cutting. The building measured 5.9m in internal diameter and its wall foundations were a combination of two slot-trenches and six post-holes, which would have held substantial post uprights. It had entrances in the centre of its southern and northern walls. Inside the building there were six pits, at least four of which held post uprights. These were set about one central pit with in situ burning, which was probably the remains of a metalworking furnace.
A couple of features were found in the open area outside the north-east entrance to the building. Firstly there was a small hearth 4m north-east of the entrance. This consisted of a patch of oxidised clay, 0.4m in diameter, surrounded by six stake-holes. Secondly, 9m north-west of the entrance, there was another kiln, similar to the potential drying kiln uncovered in Area 3.
Test-trenches excavated between Areas 3 and 4 did not uncover features of archaeological significance. In Area 5 a rectangular cutting of 551m2 was cleared of topsoil, but again no features of archaeological significance were uncovered in this area.
Samples from the metalworking area, the house, the drying kilns and the external hearth are being processed for environmental analysis, metalworking debris and material for radiocarbon dating, and work is under way towards the production of both preliminary and final reports on this site.
Reference
Seaver, M. 2004 From mountain to sea – excavations at Laughanstown/Glebe. Archaeology Ireland, 8–12.