County: Kerry Site name: Ballydonohoe
Sites and Monuments Record No.: KE005-079 Licence number: 24E0511
Author: Laurence Dunne
Site type: Ringfort ditch
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 493472m, N 638341m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.486073, -9.568496
Archaeological testing was undertaken with regard to a proposal to construct a new machinery shed at the farm in Ballydonohoe, Lisselton, Co. Kerry. The proposed shed is partially situated within the zone of notification (ZON) of the site of a levelled ringfort, KE006-079. No physical trace of the monument is visible on the ground.
A series of four radial test trenches (T1 – T4) were opened extending from the northern limits of the ZON of the ringfort.
Topsoil was incrementally removed under archaeological supervision using a 21-tonne track machine with a 2.1m wide flat grading bucket. Topsoil comprised of good quality brownish-grey, sandy silty material with an average depth of 0.25-0.3m. It overlaid light to mid-orange silty sandy natural sterile material with occasional moderate stone inclusions. The ringfort ditch was recorded in all four test cuttings. The ditch was manifest as darker grey material with charcoal inclusions evident, particularly along its inner edge. The ringfort ditch varied in width from 3.2m in T3 to 3.8m in T1.
3 Lios na Lohart, Ballyvelly, Tralee Co. Kerry
