2010:388 - Manor East, Kerry

Testing was undertaken on behalf of Kerry County Council during the week of 23 August 2010. The works were undertaken as part of Stage (i) of the archaeological services contract prior to the commencement of construction of the N22 Tralee bypass/Tralee–Bealagrellagh, Co. Kerry, which extends from Lissatanvally to Flemby in Co. Kerry. The layout of the trenches in this area was designed to test the zone of archaeological potential of KE029–257, a fulacht fiadh which is located within the road-take.
Test-trenching ascertained that KE029–257 is not a burnt mound as had been entered into the Record of Monuments and Places. The topography in the area has frequent hillocks which clearly protrude from the wet and low-lying surrounds and the suspected burnt mound appears to be a naturally occurring feature. Test-trenching and subsequent investigations did, however, identify an amount of potential pits, post-holes, stake-holes and other features of archaeological significance, both on the summit of the mound and to the north and east of it (Manor East 2). Some of these features appeared to contain heat-affected stone, which could indicate the presence of a burnt mound in the immediate vicinity outside the road-take. The recovery of a lithic artifact from one feature and the appearance of the structural remains suggests a prehistoric date but multi-period occupation cannot be ruled out. The testing report recommended full excavation of the archaeological features.