2015:285 - Hellfire Club, Mountpelier, Dublin

This excavation was undertaken as part of the Hell-Fire Archaeology Project, which aims to highlight the archaeological landscape of Montpelier Hill, and is specifically focused on investigating the nature of the possible passage-tombs designated DU025-001001 & DU025-001002 and obtaining a better understanding of both the physical remains of the 18th-century Hunting Lodge known as the Hell-Fire Club, and a better historical insight into the group that made the site so notorious. This hand-excavated testing phase was conducted to assess (or ground-truth) the results of the geophysical survey (carried out under licence 14R0033 by Dr. James Bonsall of Earthsound Archaeological Geophysics). Four test-pits, each measuring 2m x 2m, were targeted at specific features of archaeological potential revealed by the geophysics. The test-excavation revealed that features identified by geophysics in three of the four trenches (Trenches 1, 3 and 4) proved to be of no archaeological significance. Trench 2 revealed a possible outer berm (an enclosing element) for passage tomb DU025-001001. This was a layer of medium–large sized stones within a light grey, loosely compacted silty clay that contained a moderate amount of charcoal. The majority of the stones were of granite and limestone with numerous pieces of quartz. This feature appeared in a distinct band that ran in a curving line across the northern half of the trench, and was between 0.16–0.2m thick. It appeared to be respecting the curvature of a possible outer enclosing of passage tomb DU025–001001. This has the enticing possibility of being a second outer enclosing feature, or perhaps, is it is merely evidence of slippage, where the main cairn material has slid down during weathering or destruction of the cairn of the tomb. The archive is in the offices of Abarta Heritage in Clonmel, County Tipperary. Post-excavation work and specialist analyses are currently ongoing.

Old Toberaheena, Clonmel, County Tipperary