County: Offaly Site name: Drumroe 1
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E003773
Author: John Tierney, Eachtra Archaeological Projects, Ballycurreen Industrial Estate, Kinsale Road, Cork.
Site type: Prehistoric round house, pits and later field ditches
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 605144m, N 681741m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.886523, -7.923560
Phase 2 excavations 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. Six areas of archaeology were uncovered during Contract 1 trial-trench testing. Drumroe 1, Area 6.4, was originally tested under licence E3376 (see No. 1661 below) in 2007.
The excavated remains comprised a Bronze Age house, a group of pits, a number of medieval field boundaries and modern field boundaries. The area of excavation measured 35m north–south by 110m.
The Bronze Age house was located at the eastern end of the site. The house measured c. 6m in diameter but the western side was truncated. The eastern side comprised two slot-trenches (cut by two post-holes and a stake-hole) and a ring of four post-holes, and a further six post-holes formed an entrance porch that was c. 1m wide. A further two post-holes were located immediately outside the slot-trenches. The interior of the house was characterised by a pit and two post-holes near the centre of the house. Six post-holes formed an arc in the southern section of the house.
Three pits were located 20m west of the Bronze Age house and a group of thirteen more pits were located another 20m further west. Twelve of these pits formed a circular arrangement c. 20m in diameter.
Nine ditches and field boundaries were recorded in the area of the excavation. One of the boundaries was a possible medieval field boundary which measured 0.89–1.3m in width and 0.32–0.5m in depth. It was c. 50m long, extending beyond the area of the excavation to the west, and it was aligned east–west. An entrance was located roughly at the centre of the excavated portion of the ditch. This was c. 1m wide, located between two ditch terminals. The entrance between the two terminals did not follow a straight line but was staggered, and the pathway between the ditch terminals zigzagged slightly. This may have ensured that animals stayed inside the field or enclosure that was surrounded by this boundary.
Most later field boundaries excavated at the site were aligned north–south. One of these, a 19th-century field boundary, was located at the eastern end of the site. A pit, a post-hole and a drain were cut into the base of this ditch.
