What is recorded here

Excavation at Aghamore 1 revealed a buried hearth and scattered metal fragments beneath the Cannon Fields, where local memory still claims a 1798 military camp. The dug pit held two layers of burnt clay and charcoal, suggesting people once sat beside that fire on the bog’s edge. Most recovered items were ordinary nails, horseshoes and agricultural tools, yet a lead shot and an iron object may date to the seventeenth century. The fields preserve both forgotten domestic life and the sharper shadow of rebellion.

Situated at the bottom of the E-facing slope of a N-S ridge and at the edge of a raised peat bog that extends off to the E and S. First identified in centre-line testing (05E0983) for a new line of the N4 (O’Connor et al. 2005, 41), and later fully investigated (E003309) as Aghamore 1. The location is known locally as the ‘Cannon Fields’ as it was supposedly part of a military camp from the 1798 rebellion (IFC Schools’ Collection, Vol. 0257, 112). A metal-detection survey identified 283 potential metal items, of which 243 were recovered. A lead shot and another iron/lead object could be seventeenth century in date but the rest are most likely post-medieval, consisting largely of nails, horseshoes and agricultural implements. Excavation unearthed a possible hearth as a pit (dims 1.7m x 1.14m; D 0.19m) filled with two layers of burnt clay and charcoal, an oval pit (dims 1.58m x 1.26m; D 0.22m) and a burnt deposit (dims 1.34m x 0.56m; D 0.07). (O’Carroll and O’Connor 2009, 13-19) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 9 January 2020 O’Connor, D. J., Marta Muniz Pérez and Sheelagh Conran 2005 N4 Dromod-Roosky Bypass. Advance Archaeological Works Contract Licence No. 05E0983 Preliminary Report. Unpublished, CRDS O’Carroll, F. and O’Connor, D. J. 2009 N4 Dromod – Roosky Bypass. Advance Archaeological Works Contract. Aghamore 1. Ministerial Direction A 31 (A31-021/E003309) Final Report, Unpublished, CRDS

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