What is recorded here

Busherstown holds a five-metre pit where Early Bronze Age people heated water beside a vanished stream. They likely dropped hot stones into the hollow until the surface boiled, creating steam that hissed through the Carlow air. Medieval clay and iron settled above the ancient heat later, layering time into the same dark soil. The road builders removed the top layers, but the sudden violence of flashing water and cracking stone still echoes in the shape of the hole.

Excavated in advance of construction of the N9/N10 Kilcullen-Waterford Road (Excavation Licence number E2587). Close to a former stream channel, a large pit (L 5m; Wth 1.55m; D 0.83m) filled with burnt material, charcoal and heat-shattered stones. Two sherds of medieval pottery and part of an iron object were recovered from the upper fill but a sample from the base of the pit provided a radiocarbon date in the Early Bronze Age. A small pit (L 0.8m; Wth 0.73m; D 0.12m) located less than 2m to the SE and also contained charcoal and heat-shattered stones and provided a radiocarbon date in the Early Bronze Age. (O' Neill, 2009) Reference: O' Neill N. 2009 N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford Scheme: Kilcullen to Powerstown. Archaeological Services Contract No. 4 - Resolution, Prumpelstown to Powerstown. Final Report on archaeological investigations at site E2587, in the townland of Busherstown, Co. Carlow. Unpublished report, Headland Archaeology (Ireland) Ltd., Cork Compiled by: Claire Breen Date of upload: 10 November 2010

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