County: Kildare Site name: HALLAHOISE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E002942
Author: Tara Doyle, Headland Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: Burnt mound and Well
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 676210m, N 686651m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.925276, -6.866590
This site was excavated as part of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford scheme, Phase 3: Kilcullen to Carlow. Excavation revealed three burnt mounds. A fourth mound was identified but was almost completely destroyed by the digging of three wells during the early medieval period.
The first burnt mound consisted of a medium-sized subrectangular trough and a medium-sized circular pit; this was covered by a mound of heat-affected stone in a matrix of charcoal-rich black silty clay and measured 12m by 8m and 0.15m in maximum depth. Several metres to the west, a second smaller burnt mound was identified. This consisted of a deposit of heat-affected stone in a matrix of charcoal-rich black silty clay and measured 9m by 8m with a maximum depth of 0.15m. No features were identified underneath the mound. The third burnt mound was located south-west of the second burnt mound and measured 6m by 3m and was 0.15m in maximum depth. It comprised heated-affected stone in a matrix of charcoal-rich black silty clay. No features were found underneath this mound.
The remains of a fourth burnt mound consisted of a subrectangular trough and slump deposits found within a well. The trough measured 2.9m in length, 1.5m in width and 0.2m in maximum depth. It contained a single fill that was loose dark-brownish-black with charcoal and heat-affected stone. A well was identified c. 0.8m south-west of the trough. This was one of three wells excavated within this area. The well was oval in plan and orientated east to west. Its dimensions were 4.05m in maximum length, 2.05m in maximum width and 1.7m in maximum depth. Animal bone, hazelnut shell and charcoal were recovered from several deposits within the well. A loop-headed ring-pin was also recovered. Both this well and the trough were truncated by a second well, to the north of the first well and to the west of the trough. It was irregular in plan at the top and circular at the bottom and was orientated north-west to south-east. It measured 4.6m in length, 2.8m in width and 1.6m in depth. A third and more substantial well was dug 3m to the north-north-east of the trough. It was oval in plan and orientated east to west. Its dimensions were 3.5m in length, 3.2m in width and had a maximum overall depth of 2.7m.
This area also contained a stone-lined drain and a metalled surface to the south of the trough and wells and several anomalous pits of varying sizes.
Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork
