2006:1117 - Bushfield or Maghernaskeagh/ Lismore 1, Laois

This site was located within Contract 2 of the proposed M7 Portlaoise to Castletown/M8 Portlaoise to Cullahill motorway scheme and was identified during advance testing by Lydia Cagney in March and April 2005 (Excavations 2005, Nos 862–3, A015/034 and A015/035). It was excavated on behalf of Laois County Council, funded by the National Roads Authority, between October and November 2005 (on the Lismore side only, see Excavations 2005, No. 894) and between June and October 2006 on the Bushfield or Maghernaskeagh side.
The site comprised the remains of a subcircular ditched enclosure traversed by a townland boundary aligned north-east/south-west. Two mature ash trees, c. 60m apart along the field boundary, were growing in the ditch of the enclosure. The enclosure had approximate overall dimensions of 93m (east–west) by 76m. The initial post-medieval field system established in the locality respected the limits of the monument, but, once the bank was levelled, the townland boundary was realigned, traversing the interior of the enclosure. Most of the site was on the eastern (Bushfield or Maghernaskeagh) side of the townland boundary, the limits extending beyond the CPO line to the north and south. Geophysical survey will take place outside the road-take to determine the full extent of the site.
The enclosure ditch in the Bushfield or Maghernaskeagh half of the site measured 66m long by c. 2m and c. 1m deep. The fill was grey/brown silty sand over grey silt containing stones and animal bones. The main features were a cemetery in the north-east quadrant of the enclosure and a number of shallow cuts containing charcoal and burnt bone. The cemetery comprised two concentrations of burials bordered by a curvilinear feature. There were 82 burials in all, aligned east–west, the majority in poor condition. The finds included a metal pin, a bone bead, the triangular tip of a blade-like object and part of a perforated stone object. There were numerous post-holes, with no obvious structural coherence, and a series of curvilinear features, concentric with the enclosure ditch, possibly evidence for hedgerows.
Limited excavation took place in February along the northern margin of the site, external to the ditch, on the Lismore side of the field boundary. A cluster of five bowl furnaces was discovered about 12m north of the enclosure entrance. These produced large amounts of iron slag.
The site appears to be the remains of a univallate ringfort, although of unusually large size, most likely dating from the 7th to the 9th century. Radiocarbon analysis will provide a complete date range for the enclosure.