County: Offaly Site name: Moneygall 2
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E003635
Author: Jacinta Kiely, Eachtra Archaeological Projects, Ballycurreen Industrial Estate, Kinsale Road, Cork.
Site type: Isolated pit
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 602669m, N 681534m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.884681, -7.960343
Phase 2 excavations along 17.1km (Contract 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. Moneygall 2, Area 5.3, was originally tested under licence E3377 (see No. 1651 below) in 2007.
An isolated pit was excavated. The pit was sub-oval in plan and measured 2.8m in length by 1m in width and 0.5m in depth. It contained a single fill of dark-greyish-black peaty sand with occasional small stones near the base of the feature. The stones were not heat-cracked and there was no evidence for burning in situ, although some occasional charcoal flecks were found in the peaty fill. It is possible that this was a natural deposit and that the ‘pit’ was actually a natural depression in the ground or a tree bole.
