County: Wexford Site name: Effernoge 1
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E004233
Author: Margaret McNamara, for TVAS (Ireland) Ltd, Ahish, Ballinruan, Crusheen, Co. Clare.
Site type: Burnt-stone spread and possible fire-spot and palaeochannel
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 703730m, N 646355m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.558620, -6.470183
Effernoge 1 was located on the proposed M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy scheme. The site was situated in wet pasture, adjacent to a stream.
The earliest activity recorded was a deposit of probable alluvium in the south-east quadrant of the site, along the edge of the stream and extending into it. This deposit was irregular in shape, approximately 9m long, 8m wide and 0.75m deep, and consisted of brown silty sand with lenses of yellow and grey. This deposit was overlain with a burnt-stone spread. The site was affected by flooding during the excavation, and probably also flooded in prehistory.
An area of oxidised natural, interpreted as a probable fire-spot, was located underneath the burnt-stone spread. This feature was 2m long and 2.1m wide, and consisted of loosely compacted, red/brown silty clay with pebbles. It is likely that this feature relates to burnt-stone-generating activity. The alluvium and fire-spot were subsequently overlain with a burnt-stone spread.
The spread consisted of a single deposit, subcircular in plan, located in the south-east quadrant of the site close to the stream. The deposit was 9.4m long (north-east to south-west), 8.35m wide and 0.16m deep and consisted of a loosely compacted, dark-brown/black charcoal-rich silty sandy clay with frequent inclusions of burnt stone. No trace of a trough was found. Despite the lack of a trough, this deposit was interpreted as the result of burnt-stone-generating activity.
A possible palaeochannel, aligned north-east to south-west, was identified curving around the western edge of the spread. The channel extended beyond the site to the north-east and south-west and had a measurable length of 16.3m and a width of 5.5m within the limits of the site. The palaeochannel was filled with loosely compacted, mid-grey clay with pebble inclusions.
Effernoge 2 (see No. 757 below), located approximately 250m south-west of Effernoge 1, contained burnt-stone deposits, a trough, pits, fire-spots and a palaeochannel, and is probably associated with Effernoge 1.
