County: Westmeath Site name: Ballinderry Big 1
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A016/076; E3275
Author: Patricia Lynch, Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, 120B Greenpark Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 632228m, N 734654m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.361112, -7.515816
Testing was carried out as part of an archaeological mitigation programme associated with the N6 Kilbeggan to Athlone dual carriageway. The site was identified during testing undertaken by Yvonne Whitty of IAC Ltd in July 2005 (A016/029). An excavation area measuring 30m by 20m was opened in April 2006 at Ballinderry Big 1.
The site consisted of a burnt mound/fulacht fiadh measuring 9.8m by 7m by 0.28m deep, a trough, pits, as well as a linear structure of stake-holes, probably associated with the central trough beneath the burnt mound. This feature may have formed some type of a windbreak, providing shelter for the site. A number of post-holes and post-slots were identified in the base of the trough, suggesting that it may originally have been timber-lined. Post-medieval agricultural activity was noted in the form of field boundaries and furrows. No archaeological finds were recovered during the course of the excavation.
This work was funded by Westmeath County Council and the National Roads Authority.
Editor’s note: Although excavated during 2006, the report on this site arrived too late for inclusion in the bulletin of that year.
