County: Westmeath Site name: Kilcleagh
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 06E0208
Author: Paul Stevens, for The Archaeology Company, Birr Technology Centre, Mill Island, Birr, Co. Offaly.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 612990m, N 736612m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.379528, -7.804763
Excavation was carried out in April 2006 in advance of a proposed housing development, within the grounds of the Castledaly Demesne estate, Moate. Previous assessment by Ellen O’Carroll (Excavations 2004, No. 1744, 04E0749) had revealed a possible burnt-mound site and, as preservation in situ was not possible, full excavation was required by the licensing authorities.
Excavation revealed a burnt mound of possible Bronze Age date, c. 11m in diameter, thinly spread downslope of a large glacial hillock to the south-west of the site and overlooking a small area of wet marshy ground. An earlier linear drainage gully/ditch traversed the site and contained a sterile redeposited clay backfill. This feature was sealed by the mound and so pre-dated it. The site produced at least three troughs and a small pit, and part of the mound continued into the southern baulk. The troughs were all located spanning a 5m area.
Trough 1 was a pear-shaped cut with a concave profile and had partially silted up. Trough 2 was rectangular in plan, square in profile and contained the remains of a partial flagstone lining. This was backfilled with a stony deposit, suggesting the trough was deliberately dismantled. A deposit of flagstones was positioned close by and may have been reused as a working platform or pathway. It is possible the flagstone was removed from Trough 2 to make this feature, whether deliberately or by accident. Trough 3 was located in the south of the cluster and was oval in plan and square in profile. Adjacent to this trough was a small circular pit containing stone, clay, natural and burnt stone. This pit appeared to be too small to be a trough but was stratigraphically related to the activity. Further to the south-east, at the edge of the wetter part of the site, was a single timber post, thrust into the ground at a 45° angle and containing a pencil point with additional chop or axe marks along the mid length. It was unclear whether this timber was related to the site or a later feature. The roughly circular mound covered Troughs 1 and 2 and consisted of a spread of predominantly sandstone burnt stone, up to 0.35m in thickness.
