2011:558 - CARROWNREDDY, Tipperary

Pre-development testing and manual excavation of features was undertaken in advance of construction of a Government and Civic Office development in the townland of Carrownreddy on the outskirts of Tipperary town. Initial testing (undertaken by Goorik Dehaene in 2007; Excavations 2007, no. 1736) identified a burnt spread or mound feature located in the north-west of the site. The plans of the proposed development facilitated the incorporation of this feature into the new development. The area of the monument was excluded from development and retained as a green zone.
As a result of the testing and monitoring in February 2011, six areas of archaeological significance were identified and manually excavated. To the east of the burnt spread/mound an east–west linear feature and a small pit were recorded. The linear feature appears to represent furrow activity which has been identified elsewhere on the site. A fragment of ceramic ware from the fill would indicate a 19th/20th-century date. The pit feature was a small subcircular cut filled with a dark brown clay and a number of angular burnt stones. It is possible that the pit feature is associated with the burnt spread/mound and, if so, may provide an early date for human activity at the site.
The evidence from excavations at the other five locations on the site suggests agricultural-related practices and a habitation site from the 19th century onwards. Areas 2 and 3 involved the excavation of a linear ditch feature that appears to run roughly north–south through the area of the proposed development. This feature was first encountered in pre-development testing and subsequent excavation has recorded its extent in two locations within the development site. The form of this feature would suggest that it functioned as a boundary that was subsequently filled in.
Areas 4 and 5 were located in the southern half of Field 1, where pre-development testing had identified numerous linear features that appeared to run north–south. Excavation showed that the features are agricultural furrows and remnants of furrows that run north–south and east–west, indicating a concentration of agricultural activity. A number of 19th/20th-century fragments of ceramics and glass suggest that the activity dates from the last 100 years or so. In Area 5 a possible pit feature was uncovered, but most of it had been destroyed by furrow activity.
At the southern end of Field 1, monitoring of topsoil-stripping uncovered the remains of a two-roomed vernacular structure that was practically robbed of all its stone. The building would originally have faced onto Rosanna Road, but a high (2m) boundary wall was constructed over its southern wall. The stone from the building was most likely used in the construction of this boundary wall. The agricultural activity to the immediate north of the vernacular structure—and, indeed, elsewhere on the site—is possibly associated with the occupants of this building.

Arch Consultancy Ltd, New Line, Athenry, Co. Galway.