2006:1100 - Site AR48, Warrenstown, Kilkenny

An excavation was carried out in October 2006 in advance of the construction of the M8/N8 Cullahill to Cashel road improvement scheme. Prior assessment and centreline test-trenching was carried out in 2005 by Colm Moriarty (Excavations 2005, No. 790, A027/014). This site was located c. 2km west of Johnstown, on a level pasture field east of the River Goul.
Excavation revealed two burnt mounds. The southern-most spread, located on a natural peat basin, was 12.3m south of the larger spread. It measured 10.2m (north-east/south-west) by 8.7m and had a depth of 0.02–0.22m. It consisted of a very loose black sandy silt with frequent inclusions of charcoal, burnt stone and roots. No trough or pits were revealed underneath the mound.
The larger northern burnt mound measured 15m in length, 13m in width and 0.2–0.35m in depth and consisted of a compact dark-brown/black sandy silt with frequent charcoal and burnt stones. It had been truncated by modern features such as animal burials, drains and field boundaries. This sealed a subcircular shallow cut (possibly the base of a trough) that measured 1.5–1.85m by 0.8m and 0.2m in depth. The base was lined with five wooden planks lying parallel to each other in a north-east/south-west orientation, which in turn were surrounded by eleven wooden pegs delineating the subcircular cut. A large number of the planks and pegs had cut marks on the ends and were tapered. The largest of the pegs was located at the southern end of the cut and was probably used to stabilise the feature at the top end of the cut. The fact that this pit feature was very shallow, 0.2m, raises the question as to its function as a trough. It may be possible that these remains are some form of wooden platform or possibly all that remains of the base of a feature that had temporary, removable or reusable sides (e.g. wattle with stakes that could be taken down for use later on).