2014:023 - FEDDANS, Waterford

Testing was undertaken as part of Further Information for planning permission to undertake farm re-development works which incorporated the building of a new agricultural shed containing calf pens and associated site works at Feddans, Rathgormack.  The re-development works are located within the confines of a ruined tower-house.

A total of three test trenches were opened on the imprint of the proposed agricultural building, the nearest point of which is c. 20m to the west of the tower-house. The remains of a pair of highly degraded agricultural furrows, aligned north-south, were found within test trench No. 1. Within test trench No. 2 the remains of a ploughed-out field boundary were revealed. It comprised two ditches on either side of a re-deposited natural clay bank formed by the upcast of the aforementioned ditches. One fragment of 19th/20th-century pottery was found within the fill of the eastern ditch. No archaeological features were found within test trench No. 3.