2007:1682 - GREENHILLS (2), Tipperary

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. The site at Greenhills 2 was divided into Areas 1 and 2.

Area 1
A burnt mound/fulacht fiadh was located c. 250m east of another burnt-mound site at Greenhills 1 (see No. 1681, Excavations 2007), on the side of a gravel ridge.

Mound 1 comprised five layers of burnt-mound material and one layer of redeposited natural. This mound was c. 12m long and 5m wide. Mound 2 comprised a layer of heat-shattered stone and charcoal, more than 6.6m long (not fully exposed), 6.1m wide and 0.36m thick. Mound 3 comprised three layers of burnt-mound material, 3.5m wide and 0.3m deep. The mound was not fully exposed as it extended beyond the limit of excavation and the full extent of this feature is unknown.

There were three possible troughs associated with the layers of burnt-mound material, each with a capacity in the region of three cubic metres.

Post-medieval features included the Greenhills Demesne road, which cut the eastern portion of the site. The road was bound by shallow drainage dykes and a ha-ha wall to the south.

Area 2
The archaeological material at this site comprised layers of burnt-mound material, a pit and modern ditches and clearance features.

A total of three layers of burnt-mound material was found in Area 2. All of this material appears to have been redeposited from elsewhere, possibly from the burnt mound in Area 1. Remaining features excavated at this site included two pits of unknown date, a drainage ditch and a linear feature that probably represented the remains of a field boundary.