2020:275 - Wood, Offaly

Archaeological pre-development testing was conducted at two separate locations (Area 1 & 2), approximately 460m apart, in the townland of Wood in County Offaly. A moated site (OF004-009) was located c. 300m south of Area 1 and 375m south-east of Area 2.

Area 1 (ITM 655044 7377771) was located in a level field of pasture to the south of the Yellow River. Four trenches excavated in Area 1 revealed three drainage cuts that indicated land improvement/drainage works of probable 19th- or early 20th-century date and associated with the former Greenhill estate.

Area 2 (ITM 654686 737586) was represented on the ground as an irregular-shaped raised area defined by an embankment, which was the remnants of a field bank and former river channel as depicted on the earlier O.S. maps. Five trenches were excavated in Area 2. A total of 27 linear features were encountered. The vast majority of these were orientated north-east/south-west, were cut into the natural sand (C4), and varied in width from 0.4m to 3m. They represented agricultural cultivation furrows and/or land improvement works.

In the southern end of Trench 6 a deposit of sandy gravel with moderate small stone inclusions (C33) was identified directly below topsoil. The feature was orientated east-west, measured 3m in width and had sloping sides. In the southern half of Trench 8 a curved irregular-shaped cut feature (C63) was filled with a dark brown sandy clay (C64). This feature formed an arc that ran into the west baulk and may represent a hut site. In Trench 9 an orange/brown deposit of burnt clay (C70) was recorded at the southern end of the trench. It extended for the width of the trench and for a length of at least 6m. It was cut by two linear features C69 and C72.

All three features suggest human activity at the site and it was proposed that prior to development all of Area 2 be stripped of topsoil under archaeological supervision and that all exposed features are recorded.

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