County: Laois Site name: Curraghmore 1
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E003899
Author: Sinéad Marshall, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd, Brehon House, Kilkenny Road, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 622943m, N 686473m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.928593, -7.658765
This site was identified during testing along the route of the proposed N7 Castletown to Nenagh road improvement scheme. Excavation was carried out in February 2008.
The site consisted of a shallow spread of burnt-mound material. This was located in the centre of the cutting and had no associated features underneath it. A more modern boundary ditch ran through the north side of the site. Excavation of these features produced evidence of a single archaeological phase, possibly dating to the Bronze Age. Modern agricultural activity represented a second phase.
Excavation of the site produced three areas of burnt-mound material which may originally have formed one spread. The largest area, 5.5m by 1.9m, was located to the east and was kidney-shaped. Just west of lay it an oblong patch measuring 2.65m by 1.7m. The smallest area was to the north-east and measured 0.52m by 0.27m. Depth ranged from 0.04m to 0.07m. The deposit consisted of firm grey clay with moderate amounts of heat-fractured sandstone and occasional flecks of charcoal. The stone appeared to have been subjected to intense heating, as the fragments were quite small (50mm) and crumbled easily on contact. The spread was lying on dense grey and yellow clay subsoil.
