County: Offaly Site name: Castleroan 3
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E003581
Author: Tori McMorran, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd, Brehon House, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny.
Site type: Bowl furnace; post-medieval structure
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 607233m, N 683832m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.905296, -7.892480
This site was identified during testing along the route of the proposed N7 Castletown to Nenagh road improvement scheme. Excavation was carried out in September 2007. Two areas were stripped of topsoil.
Area 1, the northern area, comprised a scatter of features indicative of metalworking. These include a bowl furnace containing a large quantity of iron slag, a linear trench containing a large volume of iron slag and charcoal, post-holes, stake-holes and a large spread of charcoal, stone and blackened clay. A narrow, shallow ditch ran north–south across the west end of the area. A small chert artefact, possibly a Mesolithic arrowhead, was discovered in an unstratified context.
Area 2, the southern area, comprised the poorly preserved remains of a post-medieval/modern building, c. 2m by 2m in extent, as well as modern boundary ditches and furrows.
The structure foundations comprised linear cuts filled with random rubble stone, clay and lime mortar. Central to the remains was a small hearth and a stone-lined and capped drain. To the south was the terminal of a wide, shallow east–west-aligned ditch. Scattered across these remains was a large volume of modern debris including glass, metal and ceramic fragments. A small number of possibly early post-medieval pottery sherds were removed from the ditch fill.
