County: Laois Site name: COOLFIN (1)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A015/119, E2228
Author: Ed Danaher, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: House - indeterminate date
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 634152m, N 685140m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.916012, -7.492198
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 Robert O’Hara (Excavations 2005, No. 858, A015/028). Full resolution occurred in March 2006. Coolfin 1 comprised a round house with a diameter of 10m, which was situated on an east-facing slope and overlooked the more low-lying Coolfin 3 (see No. 1146, Excavations 2006), a spread of burnt-mound material. Partial slot-trenches denoted the outer walls, while four internal posts would have housed the internal roof supports; a hearth was situated at the centre of the structure. The slot-trenches were mainly U-shaped in profile and extended to a maximum depth of 0.25m. They were predominantly filled with a homogenous brown silty clay, except along the eastern terminals, which contained burnt-mound material. Similar material was found in a number of internal pits.
No diagnostic artefacts were found in association with this structure; 33 soil samples currently await analysis, while four charcoal samples are to be dispatched for radiocarbon analysis.
21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda
