County: Limerick Site name: Knockainy
Sites and Monuments Record No.: LI032–141 Licence number: CO33
Author: Frank Coyne, Aegis Archaeology Ltd, 32 Nicholas Street, King’s Island, Limerick.
Site type: Tower-house
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 568057m, N 635848m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.473130, -8.470167
Construction of an unauthorised silage pit, which had been excavated alongside a tower-house at Knockainy, Co. Limerick, necessitated rescue investigation of features identified in the exposed section faces. The tower-house, Knockainy Castle, is subject to a preservation order and is also a protected structure under the Limerick County Development plan.
Several features had been identified after a site inspection by a representative of the National Monuments Section. It was deemed necessary to record these features without impacting further on in situ deposits. Following on from this, the section faces of the silage pit were cleaned and recorded, providing an insight into the intensity of archaeological activity and the level of preservation of archaeology in the immediate surroundings of the tower-house. A bone or antler tuning peg of probable medieval date was recovered. The unauthorised pit, which measured 17.8m east–west by 9m and was 3m deep, was then refilled and the ground reinstated.
