2007:1444 - Busherstown 1, Offaly

General summary
Phase 2 excavation along 17.1km (Contact 1) of the 35km N7 Castletown to Nenagh (Derrinsallagh to Ballintotty) national road scheme were commissioned by Laois County Council and the National Roads Authority. Contract 1 comprises the western half of the scheme and runs from Clashnevin to Castelroan, passing along the Tipperary North and Offaly county border regions.
The excavation revealed a complex multi-period site. The site is located at around 140m OD overlooking a wide area of marshy ground to the north-east and east. Ground level drops sharply to the north to a small but fast-flowing stream. One of the earliest uses of this site was as a centre of cereal processing, including cereal drying and storage. A total of fifteen earth-cut, unlined possible figure-of-eight- or dumbbell-shaped kilns were discovered. These kilns all contain evidence for a deeper firing chamber and a drying chamber. Some kilns appeared to have been enclosed or partly enclosed by or associated with structural remains. The large ‘blank’ areas on site may represent spaces set aside for other activities associated with cereal processing.
The second phase of activity was the enclosing of certain areas of the site through the construction of deep, wide ditches. It is unclear at this point whether this was to enclose the cereal-processing centre or whether this activity had already ended. It is clear that the construction of the ditches did not always respect the location of the kilns, with many of these being truncated at this time. Several structures which are present within the interior of this enclosed area may relate to this time. At least one of these truncates a kiln. No kiln was discovered within the central area of the enclosure or outside the enclosed area, although a small number of those truncated by the enclosing ditches were on the external edge of the truncating ditch. In this regard there does appear to be some form of relationship between the enclosing of the area and the locations of the kilns.
A late phase of activity on site includes the construction of a massive ditch enclosing a subrectangular area, a moated site. The majority of the moated site lies outside the area of the road. The entire outline can clearly be seen in aerial photographs of the adjoining fields. A dense concentration of archaeological features was discovered within the area enclosed by this ditch. Many of these had a clear stratigraphic sequence. Others were associated by their physical closeness. At present it is not clear which of these features, if any, relate to the construction or occupation phase of this enclosure.
The enclosure ditch was the largest ditch on site. The excavated portion ran southwards for c. 19m, from under the northern limit of excavation, until it turned sharply towards the north-west for 12.5m and disappeared again under the northern limit of excavation. The moated site ditch was 4.8–5.56m wide with steeply sloped sides and a wide flat base. It was 1.5–1.7m in depth and contained a total of 48 fills along its visible length. To the north-east it appeared that the ditch may have been revetted by large boulders which have now collapsed into the base of the ditch. There was no apparent silting or fill below these boulders but the ditch did appear to have remained open for some time after the revetment collapsed. Some silting up has occurred around and over the upper layer of boulders. Above this it appears that the ditch was used for dumping before a final backfill event. This ditch encloses a large number of archaeological features and a number of stratigraphic layers. The foundation trenches and post-holes of a small structure and two corn-drying kilns were identified.
Finds, primarily from the upper fills of the moated site ditch, included a roof-slate fragment, an iron nail, fragments of iron, a post-medieval knife fragment, a possible medieval spearhead or iron plough shoe, a ceramic sherd and a small roughly shaped arrowhead or tool made from bone.
A possible linear smithing hearth and associated well or water storage pit probably post-date the construction of the moated site. As only a small quantity of slag was recovered from the site, it is possible that this hearth was used primarily for secondary smithing.
Post-medieval features include a large number of related furrows spread across the site and truncating many of the features investigated.
Burials
Two burials were recovered on site, one infant burial and one juvenile or young adult. The infant was aligned east–west, with the head placed to the west, the arms folded across the supine upper body and the legs bent at the knees towards the south. The burial was found within the fill of one of the ditches and no grave-cut could be defined. It therefore appeared that the infant was carefully placed during the deposition/backfilling of this end of the ditch. The juvenile or young adult burial was placed within another ditch. The remains appeared to have been rolled into the ditch with the upper ditch fill. These deposits also contained a fragment of possible post-medieval pottery, and an Edward I long cross penny was recovered from an adjacent upper fill. The body was placed face down with the head to the north. The position of the head in relation to the feet suggested the body was placed in the ditch intact, although excavation revealed that a large number of bones were missing and that a lot of disturbance had taken place, especially around the centre of the body.
Material evidence
A coin was discovered in the upper fill of a ditch. Based on the size and visible markings this appears to be an Edward I or II long cross penny of silver dating to the period 1279 or 1327. Other metal finds included a small hammered strip of bronze or copper alloy recovered from the fill of a kiln. One side of this strip was unevenly covered with incised geometrical (lozenge-shape infilled with criss-cross) design and may be a medieval tweezers fragment.
A long bone pin was recovered from the fill of a kiln, found within the interior of the moated site. This plain pin is of possible medieval type with a perforation in its triangular-shaped head.
Six quernstone fragments were recovered from various contexts across the site. As the fragments discovered from the features were generally found at a considerable depth, they are unlikely to have been a result of plough disturbance.