2007:1564 - Annaholty, Tipperary

Archaeological investigations in advance of the N7 Nenagh to Limerick high-quality dual carriageway road project at Annaholty revealed a large kidney-shaped fulacht fiadh. Excavations took place between 5 February and 6 April 2007. Work was halted between 9 and 20 February due to the site being waterlogged.
The site was located on a natural ridge of sand and gravel which sloped into Annaholty Bog. Activities from a nearby gravel quarry had placed a thick covering of sand and gravel over most of the site. When this material and the underlying peat were removed a large kidney-shaped mound of burnt stone was revealed. This mound measured 17.1m by 10.75m and was 0.6m high. Located underneath the mound were three features. One of these was a small pit which was located under the southern part of the mound. The other two features were located under the central part of the mound. The first of these was a large oval pit, C7. The pit measured 2.4m by 3.21m and had a maximum depth of 0.66m. The pit was filled with grey silt which contained a large amount of stone. Underneath this fill in the south-eastern part of the pit eight in situ pegs and stakes were identified.
The second feature was a wood-lined trough, located to the south-east of C7. The trough cut measured 2.75m by 1.67m and had a maximum depth of 0.56m. The wooden structure of the trough measured 2.21m by 0.93m. The structure consisted of one large base plank with side planks. In the north-west and south-west corners, where the wood was better preserved, four in situ wooden stakes were identified. There was also a stake-hole identified in the south-eastern corner where the wood was badly preserved. These stakes seemed to have been used to secure the side planks within the trough. The peat overlying the mound material will be sampled for environmental data. No finds were retrieved during this excavation.