County: Tipperary Site name: Glenbeha 1
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A038; E3620
Author: Liam Ó Séaghdha, Valerie J. Keeley Ltd, Brehon House, Kilkenny Road, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny.
Site type: Prehistoric burnt mounds
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 612242m, N 685205m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.917543, -7.817971
This site was excavated as part of the archaeological resolution of the route of the N7 Castletown–Nenagh road scheme. Four areas were stripped of topsoil.
Three pits were found in Area 1. An oval pit in the centre of the site measured 0.75m (north-west/south-east) by 0.64m and 0.26m deep. Some 3m to the north-west was a subcircular pit measuring c. 0.85m in diameter by 0.18m deep. A further 2.4m to the north was a sub-oval pit, measuring 0.65m (north-east/south-west) by 0.45m wide and 0.25m deep.
A sub-oval pit was located in the centre of Area 2, measuring 2.1m (east–west) by 1.55m wide and 0.32m deep. It contained two contexts, a main fill of dark-grey/brown sandy silt with occasional charcoal flecks and a packing fill surrounding the cut of the pit. Adjacent to the north-east was a shallow spread of similar material, measuring 1.02m (north-east/south-west) by 0.5m and 0.09m deep. To the north-east of this was a small pit containing one sterile fill. Located to the east was an early modern field boundary. This feature measured 16.5m (north–south) by 2.2m and 0.8m deep. The west of the area had a shallow drain, measuring 15.15m long by 1.18m wide and 0.2m deep.
Area 3 had a central waterlogged area with truncated pits and spreads of burnt-mound material on three sides. To the east was a pit containing burnt-mound material, which measured 1m by 0.63m and 0.17m deep. To the south and west a burnt spread measuring 14m (north–south) by 9m and 0.3m deep ran downslope to the south. In the north was a burnt spread, 4.5m by 2m, and a pit measuring 1.4m by 0.7m and 0.21m deep. Towards the south was a shallow pit measuring 1.65m long by 1.2m and 0.15m deep. In the west, a field boundary with a stone-filled drain measured 25.47m (north–south) by 2.4m and 0.95m deep. Seven worked pieces of flint and one chert were recovered from the topsoil on this area.
The southwest of Area 4 was waterlogged and comprised black peat with frequent brushwood. On the edge of this wetland was a shallow circular pit, c. 1.33m in diameter, and an adjacent burnt spread. To the east were a subrectangular pit measuring 1.55m by 0.73m and 0.4m deep and a subcircular burnt spread measuring 2.9m in diameter. A small circular feature, c. 0.7m in diameter, was isolated to the north. In the north-west corner of the site was a burnt mound measuring c. 7.7m (north–south) by 6.3m. A second burnt mound, c. 10.5m in diameter, was in the north of the area. Three worked flints were found, suggesting a Bronze Age date for Area 4.
