County: Cavan Site name: Lismagratty
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 22E0094
Author: Caroline Cosgrove
Site type: Burnt mound
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 644432m, N 807948m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.018827, -7.322000
The site at Lismagratty, Co. Cavan was subject to test trenching carried out by Moore Group in June 2017 under licence 17E0229. Two features were identified; a small area of burning and a large burnt mound.
Monitoring of topsoil stripping and excavation of features identified were carried out between 11 April 2022 and 27 May 2022 under licence 22E0094 issued to Ian Russell and later transferred to Caroline Cosgrove, both of Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit.
The proposed development site measured c.164m by 145m. Only one previously unknown feature was identified, a second burnt mound, consisting of spread C3. The small spread of burning identified in testing turned out to be non-archaeological upon investigation. In total, two burnt mounds were excavated.
Burnt Mound 1, comprised of spread C3, measured 9.5m in length by 6.3m in width and 0.38m in depth. It consisted of a black silty clay that ranged from loose to compact. It contained frequent inclusions of small heat-shattered angular stone and moderate inclusions of charcoal. It lay above and filled or partially filled 4 pits/troughs (C8, C12, C13 and C19) identified below the spread. Charcoal fragments from a sample from trough C12 were identified as hazel and oak. Spread C3 was highly truncated and disturbed, especially at the south and southeast.
Burnt Mound 2 was situated 10m north of Burnt mound 1 and measured 21m length by 14 m width by 0.56m depth. It consisted of five spreads. The main spread C9, measured the full length of the burnt mound (21m by 14m by 0.56m depth) and consisted of a blackish-brown silty clay with frequent inclusions of small oxidised heat-shattered stone and frequent charcoal. C9 lay above spreads C24, C26 and C27 and below C23. The burnt mound lay above pit/trough C21 at the north-eastern quadrant and a large oak plank-lined trough C34 in the north-western quadrant. A post-hole with an oak wooden post was identified at each corner of the trough. Charcoal fragments from C45, the basal fill of the trough, contained hazel, birch, holly, pomoideae, oak, ash and willow. A sample from Timber No. 4 from the trough lining, was submitted to AMS dating which returned a Late Bronze Age radiocarbon determination of 1047-899 CalBC. (UBA-49716, 2810±26 BP)
The rest of the site was stripped of topsoil, this was carried out under archaeological supervision and exposed no additional features.
The features exposed during test trenching and one additional feature identified during stripping were fully excavated and preserved by record. Archaeological investigations of the proposed development site are now complete, and no further mitigation is required.
Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit, Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co Louth.
