2007:1740 - Sites B and C, Tullahedy, Tipperary

Archaeological investigations in advance of the N7 Nenagh to Limerick road project took place at Tullahedy between 29 January and 23 March 2007. This excavation was necessitated due to the widening of the Nenagh bypass. Sites B and C were first discovered and investigated in 1998 by Richard O’Brien. Approximately half of Site B and the majority of Site C were completely hand excavated in late 1998–9, with the remainder of the sites preserved in situ under terram and backfilled (Excavations 1998, No. 628; Excavations 1999, No. 839, 98E0540). Test-trenching was carried out at the site by Judith Carroll & Co. in January 2006. These trenches did not, however, disturb the northern portion of the mound. This excavation concerned the complete hand digging of the remaining portions of the sites.
The site consisted of the northern portion of a large burnt mound which had been truncated to the north by a modern drainage channel. The body of this northern half of the mound had been roughly divided into quarters during the previous investigations. Many of the relationships between the various mound deposits had thus been lost or compromised.
Underlying the mound deposits (Site B), a cluster of substantial ‘pillar’ stones were identified as a setting. Some of the stones were likely to have collapsed from an upright position. The underlying natural was also peppered with large flat-faced boulders immediately beneath where the burnt mound had accumulated. The destruction of the surrounding area during the construction of the Nenagh bypass precluded further investigation as to whether these stones were unique to the pre-mound surface.
Distinct horizons and individual dumping episodes were distinguished most readily in the south-facing section, which equated with the apparent northern limit of the previous excavation. Contamination from recent activity was also clearly visible.
Traces of several ditches and modern drains were also identified. Ditch C18 curled around the eastern limit of the burnt mound, with an approximately north–south orientation, and had been traced in the original excavation. The sides of the ditch seem to be gently sloped, leading to an almost flat/concave base. It measured c. 1.2m in width with a maximum depth of 0.17m. There was some indication that fill C19 was a homogenous sandy silt which been deposited earlier than the burnt-mound activity. However, due to the level of disturbance the evidence was too weak to confirm with certainty that C18 pre-dated the mound.
A recent stone-filled drain, C53, cut through ditch C18 and the south-eastern end of the burnt mound. It was 0.15m wide with a maximum depth of 0.43m, and extended north-east/south-west beyond the limits of excavation. A second disturbed ditch, C55, orientated east-north-east/west-south-west, was only traceable for c. 8m to the east of the burnt mound. It had a sharp break of slope at the top, with gently sloping sides leading to a concave base (width 0.6m by depth 0.2m). None of fill C56 could be shown to be primary to the ditch.
Two probable field boundaries were identified to the west of the burnt mound. The easternmost, C21, partially truncated the burnt-mound deposits. C21 was 1.45m in width, 0.64m in depth and filled with loose grey sand with very frequent rounded stones. The more western ditch, C110 (1.5m wide by 0.35m depth), was a continuation of the curved field boundary still in use in the field immediately north of the excavation. It was filled with a mid-brown loam with frequent stone inclusions, particularly towards the centre. Further west, partial traces of two other ditches identified in 1998 (Site D) were found (C23: 1.55m in width by 0.85m depth; C26: 0.9m in width by 0.3m in depth). Both had been badly destroyed and nothing of archaeological significance could be gleaned from either.