County: Kilkenny Site name: Ballyhale
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 07E1142
Author: John Purcell, 17 Balmoral Terrace, Dillon’s Cross, Cork.
Site type: Testing
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 654342m, N 635324m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.466657, -7.200241
Test-trenching was undertaken at Ballyhale, Co. Kilkenny. Previous work undertaken (see No. 874 above, 07E0524) uncovered the location of a souterrain recorded in the RMP, a fulacht fiadh and a possible enclosure on the site. A number of features uncovered at the west of the study area were interpreted as a possible enclosure during the original testing report. The test-trenches excavated as part of this assessment were placed to clarify if these features could be classified as an enclosure. The test-trenches were spaced to optimise the information gathered.
The trenches uncovered no evidence of an enclosure or ringfort. A number of individual features were uncovered; however, these did not form part of a bank and ditch feature and were not linked. Two large features (F5 and F7) were uncovered during the testing. These were similar in shape and size to a ditch; however, the two features were not linked and did not extend into the adjacent trenches. A number of other small features were uncovered; these are small in nature and do not necessarily form part of a larger settlement.
