County: Offaly Site name: Puttaghan 1
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A033, E2493
Author: Tom Janes, Headland Archaeology Ltd, Unit 1, Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork.
Site type: Post-medieval burnt spread
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 634511m, N 725797m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.281374, -7.482484
Puttaghan 1, excavated in advance of the proposed N52 Tullamore bypass national road scheme, was located c. 0.25km north of Tullamore. The gently undulating farmland was under pasture at the time of testing.
Context 03 was identified in offset T14 on the northern edge of the CPO corridor. It was a subrectangular spread of moderately compact charcoal-rich sandy silt with frequent inclusions of ash. It was 0.1m deep, 3.5m north–south by 3m. T14 was widened to 5m at its northern end in order to determine the limits of the feature. The surface of the underlying natural geology showed evidence of in situ burning. A heavily rusted ferrous object, probably a nail, was recovered from Context 03. Charcoal-rich material was also recovered for environmental analysis. No other archaeological deposits were identified in the extended area around the feature or in neighbouring test-trenches.
