County: Wicklow Site name: Sruhaun
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WI027-090 Licence number: 15E0320
Author: William O'Brien
Site type: Hill-top enclosure
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 687824m, N 689216m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.946543, -6.693220
In July 2015 a sample excavation was conducted at a hill-top enclosure of probable prehistoric date on Tuckmill Hill, Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow. This work was undertaken as part of a research project on prehistoric hillforts in Ireland, based in University College Cork with funding from the Irish Research Council. The investigation at Sruhaun involved trenching the enclosing element of this site. These features are best viewed on aerial lidar survey, and as high magnetic responses in gradiometry survey, being barely visible on the ground. Excavation confirmed the presence of two ditches directly inside the remains of a low bank of stones. There are indications of intense burning at the base of this bank, from where a charcoal sample is radiocarbon dated 1375–1225 BC. This indicates a broad contemporaneity between this site and the nearby hillfort of Rathnagree on Tuckmill Hill, raising interesting questions as to their functional relationship.
Department of Archaeology, University College Cork
