County: Roscommon Site name: Toobrackan 1 and 2
Sites and Monuments Record No.: RO008–023 Licence number: 10E0301
Author: James Kyle, Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, 120b Greenpark Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Site type: Features associated with ringfort, burnt mounds
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 563576m, N 796082m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.912838, -8.554393
Toobrackan 1 and 2 were discovered during a first phase of testing along the proposed N5 Ballaghaderreen bypass undertaken in 2009, carried out by Nial O’Neill (Excavations 2009, No. 699, 09E0475). The Stage (iii) excavation work was undertaken between 4 and 22 October 2010.
Various features were identified across the area stripped for Toobrackan 1. These included pits, hearths and ditches. Although as yet undated, a cluster of the pits may be prehistoric as there were a number of deliberately flaked lithics in their fills. The ditches and the other pits and hearths are probably associated with the adjacent ringfort (RO008–023) and may represent activity within a radial field system for that settlement.
Toobrackan 2 comprised two troughs associated with a truncated burnt mound representing the remains of a fulacht fiadh.
