2011:342 - STACK’S MOUNTAIN, Kerry

Limited test excavations as a component part of the cultural chapter of an EIS were undertaken with regard to a proposed wind farm extension of two wind turbines at Stack’s Mountain, c. 14km north-east of Tralee. The terrain generally comprises poor upland boggy land on the north-western slopes of Beenageeha Mountain and the western slopes of Cloghanaleskirt on the Stack’s Mountains at c. 170–260m OD. Large tracts of bog are still commercially exploited today; many more wet and boggy areas have been reclaimed as pasture, while large tracts have been planted with forestry. Three 1m-wide test cuttings were opened with a 13-tonne tracked machine using a flat grading bucket. In general the fill comprised thin cutaway bog, varying between 0.2m and 0.5m in depth. This in turn overlay natural sterile grey clay with occasional shaly inclusions. No archaeological sites, features or artefacts were recorded within the excavated peat.

Laurence Dunne Archaeology, 3 Lios Na Lohart, Ballyvelly, Tralee, Co. Kerry