County: Limerick Site name: Rathfreedy, Newcastle West
Sites and Monuments Record No.: LI037-110- Licence number: 20E0648
Author: Edel Barry & Seán Shanahan, Shanarc Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: Fulacht fia; no archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 533127m, N 633769m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.451284, -8.983829
Test excavations were carried out on 27 November 2020, in association with a proposed private residential development (planning ref. 19/1257), at Rathfreedy, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick. The proposed development was located in the immediate vicinity of two fulachta fiadh (LI037-110, LI037-111), with the proposed site boundary directly impacting fulacht fiadh LI037-110 and the proposed boundary encroaching upon the Zones of Notification for both monuments.
A 25m buffer was established from the outer edge of fulacht fiadh LI037-110. A total of 7 test trenches were machine excavated across the proposed development site, using a toothless, flat, grading bucket. Excavated trenches were 1.6m in width, 20-25m in length and 0.17-0.25m in depth.
The stratigraphy of excavated material was consistent throughout the trenches, comprising of a sod and topsoil layer of soft, light grey-brown clayey silt, with occasional inclusions of small sized sub-rounded stone, overlying a natural subsoil layer which comprised a compact, mottled yellow-grey clay, with a moderate amount of small-sized sub-rounded stones.
No finds, features or deposits associated with, or related to fulachta fiadh LI037-110 and LI037-111, or any other archaeological activity, were identified during test-excavation.
Unit 39a, Hebron Business Park, Hebron Road, Kilkenny
