County: Tipperary Site name: Ballintotty
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E002934
Author: Frank Ryan, for Aegis Archaeology Ltd, 32 Nicolas Street, Kings Island, Limerick.
Site type: Burnt spread and timber trackway/platform
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 590792m, N 678471m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.857086, -8.136717
Two separate areas, A026/444 and A026/446, discovered during Phase 1 testing of the N7 Nenagh to Limerick road project in 2006 were fully excavated in 2007. The sites were located 300m north-west of Ballintotty Castle (TN021–055), 150m south of a ringfort (021–053) and 200m north-east of an enclosure and hall house (021–094(01, 02)) in the townland of Ballintotty. The two sites were situated in a wetland environment with the land rising gradually to the north, south and east and falling down to the west. Previous excavations by Richard O’Brien in Ballintotty for the N7 Nenagh bypass had identified a fulacht fiadh (Excavations 1998, No. 585, 98E0476, TN021–098).
Excavations were carried out between 25 January and 20 March 2007. Site A026/444 consisted of a small timber platform or trackway measuring 3m by 1m and constructed of split timber planks with supporting pegs. It seemed to have been disturbed and several concentrations of timbers showed evidence of having originally been larger. No diagnostic finds were recovered so the date of this activity is unclear.
Site A026/446 consisted of a burnt spread measuring 26m by 12m with a maximum depth of 0.2m and an associated partially timber-lined trough. Assorted animal bone, burnt bone, possible red-deer antler and a tusk were recovered from the spread.
