County: Tipperary Site name: Kilsheelan
Sites and Monuments Record No.: TN084–002 Licence number: 10E0315
Author: Mary Henry, Mary Henry Archaeological Services Ltd, 17 Staunton Row, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 628754m, N 623360m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.361067, -7.577839
Four test-trenches were opened on the imprint of a single-house site within the village of Kilsheelan. The house site is situated within the confines of a monument, which is classified as a village, and is adjacent to a motte. This motte has a grotto set within it.
A Victorian stone culvert extended through Trench 1. This culvert was associated with the nearby schoolhouse toilets. Its outlet is still visible on the south edge of the site, where it went into the river. In the other three trenches there was evidence that part of the site had been dug out and subsequently infilled (20th-century infill). Local information indicated the site had been partially excavated for soil to facilitate the landscaping around the grotto, which was built into the nearby motte c. 50 years previously. Much of Trench 2, all of Trench 3 and most of Trench 4 had modern infill. The previous removal of soil from the site to assist in the landscaping of the nearby grotto and subsequent infilling had been concentrated in the central part of the site; i.e. the area of the proposed house and garage. Within this infill there were numerous alcohol bottles. These bottles came from a small brewery and public house, which was located on the opposing side of the site.
No archaeological features were uncovered in any of the trenches opened. The site had been subjected to extensive disturbance including the laying of a culvert, which extended from its north end and exited at its southern end into the river, and the removal of soil within its central part.
