2008:1071 - Knocknaganny, Tipperary

The proposals are for fifteen houses and access road in a steep open field on the east side of Gallows Hill, a road leading south out of Sligo town. A geophysics survey and, by implication, depending on the results of that survey, testing of the area was required. The geophysics survey, 08R223, was done by Margaret McCarthy, GeoArc, in autumn 2008.
The location is geographically similar to that of sites with complex archaeology of many periods exposed during the construction of the Sligo N4 inner relief road county extension about 400m to the west. The well known as Tobernashelmida, SL014–126, at least 60m to the east, is not known locally as a holy well.
The site, 0.63ha, measures 165m east–west and reduces from 55m north–south near west to 30m north–south near east. From south-west to north-east, the maximum difference, the drop is 7.5m in a distance of 140m. Testing was done by four long east–west trenches measuring between 113m and 145m and two short north–south trenches measuring 9m and 13m. A central block of ground between two of the trenches was opened after discussions on the geophysics. This gave a total of 576m2, 12%, of the available site tested.
The testing indicated that the features that showed up in the geophysics survey were not of archaeological origin. The soil was wetter in some of the areas that showed in the survey and this may be the explanation for the patterns. There were no structures or features found in the testing.
The finds were limited. There were eighteen shards of domestic pottery, none of which are earlier than the 17th century, four are probably 17th-century slipware and the rest are probably local domestic wares of the 18th to 19th century. There were five stems of clay pipes, three of which are thin and may be 17th century. All of the metal was modern. The shell, most of it squashed beyond recognition as to type but some oyster and cockle still recognisable, seemed to have been from fertilising the soil. It appeared that the shells in one trench had been deposited on cultivation ridges running downhill in the northern part of the site; these shells were distributed through a depth of at most 50mm, but generally were no more than 20mm thick.
None of the maps examined over the years indicates a major house of post-medieval or demesne period date in this area, so the source of these finds is unknown.
The report by Fiona Beglane clearly rules out the possibility of human bones among the eleven bones collected. Cattle, sheep/goat and pig were identified. The sheep and pig bones were juveniles, demonstrating that these were slaughtered at an optimum age for the production of prime meat. A poorly preserved cattle horn core had been sawn or chopped through at one end. This is likely to have occurred as a result of horn working. A large mammal rib showed signs of sawing that are likely to be associated with butchery, although this could be a craftwork off-cut.
The name ‘Gallows Hill’ may seem to have archaeological implications. However, two sources suggest that this was not the location of a gallows for hanging people. Gunning and Feehily (1996, 92) suggest that the name Gallows Hill derives from a word that describes the top of a hillock. Gallagher (2008, 35, 40, 51, 55, 409–430) suggests that this is a case of a referred name; there was a gallows in a geographically similar location, now known as Gallows Hill North, on the opposite side of Sligo town; that gallows is mentioned for 1663 (Gallagher 2008, passim).
The greater part of the site has been resolved. A recommendation of monitoring of the unresolved areas was made.
References
Gallagher, F. 2008 Streets of Sligo, urban evolution over the course of seven centuries. Sligo.
Gunning, P., and Feehily, P. 1996 Down Gallows Hill, an illustrated history of Sligo from 1245 to 1995. Sligo.