County: Laois Site name: COOLFIN (4)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A015/122, E2231
Author: Ed Danaher, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 634079m, N 684956m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.914363, -7.493302
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 4 comprised a rectangular pit with dimensions of 1.6m east–west by 1.05m and a depth of 0.15m. It was filled with burnt-mound material and was likely to have held a wooden trough in antiquity, as suggested by the post-holes in the four corners of this feature. A north–south-orientated stream was situated 8m to the west. Four soil samples currently await analysis, while one charcoal sample is to be dispatched for radiocarbon analysis.
21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda
