2007:883 - AR056, Baysrath, Kilkenny

This site was located within the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford road scheme along Contract 2, Phase 4, Knocktopher to Powerstown. It was identified during testing carried out by Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd, and was excavated between 20 August and 19 September 2007. The site (35m south-west/north-east by 60m) was located on marginal land between bog to the north-east and rising pasture land to the south-west and consisted of a large burnt mound/fulacht fiadh of probable Bronze Age date, a pond and a number of post-medieval ditches.
The burnt mound and associated features were located in the southern half of the site and extended beyond the site limits in the south. The burnt mound was located immediately adjacent to a pond (c. 26m north–south by 10m by 1.2m) which was badly disturbed due to an attempt to drain and backfill it; it was filled with burnt-mound material and wood from recent tree clearance.
There were two well-defined rectangular troughs; one (1.64m east–west by 1.1m by 0.25m) had six stake-holes at the four corners (double in south-west and north-west) possibly the basis for a vertical screen around the inside edge of the trough, perhaps defined by a series of wooden planks supported by the posts at each corner. No remains of the wood survived. The trough and stake-holes were filled by heat-fractured stone and charcoal-rich clays. Only part of the south and west edges of the second trough survived; a total of seventeen stake-holes were uncovered at the base and projected base of the trough. These were not regularly spaced/arranged; however, in sections the stake-holes were closely aligned and therefore they may have been the basis for a wattle screen around the inner edge of the trough cut. The trough was filled with material similar to the overlying burnt-mound material. Four irregular pits were all filled with heat-fractured stone and charcoal-rich clays.
All these features were sealed by the burnt-mound deposit (c. 15m north–south by 15m by 0.15–0.53m), consisting of heat-fractured stones and charcoal-rich clay.