2025:401 - Derrymore, Tipperary

Archaeological monitoring of the construction phase groundworks for a solar PV farm took place in fulfilment of a condition of planning permission. The construction groundworks principally comprised of topsoil stripping for access roads, a construction compound, transformer boxes and crane pads, and ducting trenches for electrical cables. All groundworks were monitored and were completed in a phased manner according to the construction schedule between November 2024 and September 2025.

The development site had been previously subject to geophysical survey (Nicholls 2019). No responses of a definitive archaeological nature were recorded from the survey. Archaeological monitoring took place in two broad phases, the first entailed the monitoring of the construction of the compound, access tracks and transformer/crane pads while the second phase involved the excavation of the ducting trenches for the solar panels. In general, the topsoil was relatively shallow, often less than 0.2m in depth overlying a grey sandy and gravelly subsoil. Peat deposits were identified in the southern field only. A maximum peat depth of 1.8m over the grey subsoil was exposed during the construction of the access track and transformer/crane pad there.

No features, finds, or material of archaeological significance was identified during the course of monitoring the construction groundworks.

References

Nicholls, J. (2019) ‘Geophysical Survey Report. Proposed Erkina Solar Farm, Rockforest Townland, Roscrea, North Tipperary. Licence no.: 19R0130’. Unpublished report: Target Archaeological Geophysics.