County: Laois Site name: Newtown
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E003901
Author: Liam Ó Séaghdha, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd, Brehon House, Kilkenny Road, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny.
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 622217m, N 685506m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.919927, -7.669619
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 was a burnt mound, most of which lay outside the limit of excavation. It was located c. 3m south of a stream named the County Stream, which here forms the border between counties Laois and Tipperary. The mound measured 12.45m by 4.2m by 0.47m deep. Beneath the burnt mound was a trough measuring 2.45m by 1.47m by 0.28m. The trough had a very regular cut and the vertical sides, especially in the undisturbed south-east corner, suggest a timber inner lining. The site suffered disturbance from dredging over the years and change in the alignment of the stream.
