County: Kerry Site name: Tullamore, Listowel
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 22E0375
Author: David Murphy
Site type: Testing
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 499485m, N 638412m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.487851, -9.480017
Archaeological testing of the site of the permitted Tullamore Solar Farm substation was undertaken in order to comply with the An Bord Pleanála (ABP) grant of permission. Seven test trenches, totalling 719m in length, were excavated across the footprint of the substation location during the testing programme.
Excavation of the test trenches revealed a relatively consistent stratigraphy within all seven trenches. This comprised a shallow sod layer of between 0.1m and 0.15m thickness being underlain by a light yellowish-grey clayey-silt topsoil. The topsoil layer had the appearance of being mixed with the underlying clayey subsoils, likely as a result of past land improvement works which were evidenced by the numerous land drains which truncated the underlying subsoil. The thickness of topsoil varied between 0.2m at the higher north-western end of the trenches and up to 0.7m at the lower lying south-eastern ends. The effects of hill-wash and natural siltation due to flooding events would appear to be the cause of the greater depth of silty topsoil at the south-eastern ends of the trenches. The land drains, which generally measured c. 0.5m to 0.7m in width and 0.4m to 0.5m deep, trended in a north to south and north-west to south-east direction.
The subsoil itself also appeared quite mixed and this likely occurred during land improvement works. It consisted of silty clay, which varied in colour between light bluish-grey and light yellowish-grey at the south-eastern end of the trenches and light orangish-brown at the north-western end of the trenches. The subsoil contained moderate inclusions of varying sized natural pebbles and stones (generally small to medium sized) and occasional natural mineral concentrations, such as manganese and iron pan.
The only feature of archaeological interest revealed during the testing programme was uncovered in the north-western portion of Trench 6. This feature (T.6; F.1) comprised a shallow spread of charcoal-rich clayey silt which was uncovered at a depth of 0.35m below surface level. The feature was sub-oval in plan and measured c. 2.6m north-east to south-west by 1.6m. Limited manual investigation revealed a depth of only c. 50mm and evidence of soil oxidisation, e.g. in-situ burning activity. The feature’s shape and the density of charcoal inclusions, including large fragments, within its fill, suggest that it represents the basal remnants of a charcoal-production pit, the upper portion of which was truncated by past agriculture-related activities within the field.
It is proposed that the feature be subject to archaeological excavation ahead of the construction phase of the project.
3a Westpoint Trade Centre, Link Road, Ballincollig, Cork
