Habitation site in Banemore (clanwilliam By.) — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Banemore held a long hall twelve metres across, built before recorded history and bisected by a ditch. People heated shallow pits there until animal bones cracked and sandstone flew, then buried the warmth beneath clay. They stood inside the post-frame when rain struck the roof or watched the ditch cut the living space in two. The hall has vanished, but its dimensions still measure the chamber where humans made heat, ate, and left marks in soil.

Identified during archaeological monitoring associated with the Limerick Main Drainage Scheme. Excavated under licence 00E0506 by Edmond O’Donovan (O’Donovan 2000), the results were summarised as following; ‘The site consisted of a series of subcircular pits, post- and stake-holes, bisected by a linear ditch. In all, 48 features were excavated: 19 post-holes, 18 pits, 10 stake-holes and a ditch. Many of these features showed signs of truncation. Topsoil had been removed from the field surface in previous years in preparation for the groundworks associated with Rathbane golf-course. The features were located within an area measuring 33m east–west by 17m. Most of the features were uniformly filled with a natural deposit of mid to dark brown/grey, silty clay. Five of the pits had been deliberately backfilled (with heat-shattered sandstone and small fragments of burnt animal bone), while six contained evidence of in situ heating/burning. The pits averaged 1.2m x 1.1m in plan and 0.3m in depth and were all subcircular, shallow and typically flat-based. The post-holes averaged 0.4m x 0.4m in plan and 0.3m in depth. Four of these were stone-packed (www.excavations.ie; O'Donovan 2002, 190). Subsequent to post excavation analysis it was possible to propose a building plan for the post and stake holes identified. The building measured 12.7m east-west and 5m north-south. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from a pit indicated occupation at the site between 1253-1003 BC (O’Donovan 2002, 28-29). Compiled by: Martin Fitzpatrick Date upload: 26 June 2020

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.