2008:1015 - Loughan, Offaly

Pre-development testing was carried out at a site at Loughan, Dunkerrin Co. Offaly. The proposed development area consists of c. 1.6ha of land in a rural location of undulating fields interspersed with shallow river valleys. There is a graveyard (OF045–032) to the immediate south-west, a holy well (OF045–033) and a ringfort (OF045–034) are located 400m to the north, an enclosure site (OF045–031) is located 700m to the north-west and a castle motte (TN016–003) and enclosure site (TN016–004) are recorded 1km to the south.
Eighteen trenches were excavated, all roughly orientated north to south across responses from a previous geophysics investigation undertaken at the site. The westernmost field in the site could not be accessed during the testing. This field is the closest to the graveyard. It is separated from it by a fast-flowing stream and a narrow strip of land. It was observed that an area of at least 20m2 focused around Trenches 6, 7 and 8 contained features of archaeological importance. These included pits, stake-holes, a possibly realigned field boundary, and a penannular slot-trench. This may be representative of habitation/industrial activity and, although no artefacts were retrieved, the fills of the pits are reminiscent of fulachta or burnt mounds, indicating a possible prehistoric date.