What is recorded here

Four hearths still mark Killaskilleen, spaced ten to thirty metres apart beside a long V-shaped ditch. They are not a grand hall or formal fortress, but a small cluster of fireplaces where people likely cooked, warmed themselves and tended daily work. The nearby ditch and smaller drains suggest the land was shaped for living, not merely passed across.

Archaeological testing (00E0327) over an extensive area (dims c. 500m NW-SE; c. 300m NE-SW) identified four hearths in a fairly small area (dims c. 60m x c. 40m). The hearths were placed c. 10-30m apart and were close to a large, V-shaped E-W ditch (max. Wth 2.4m; max. D 0.8m; L 50m plus) that curves slightly to the N. The ditch was filled with silts that produced little material apart from post-medieval ceramics in its upper levels. This ditch was cut by an E-W ditch (Wth c. 2m; D 0.7m) that was filled with silts containing fragments of red brick and which is represented on the 1908 edition of the OS 6-inch map. Smaller drains (Wth 0.3-0.4m; D 0.1-0.2m) feed into this from the N creating a few rectangular plots (dims c. 20m x c. 10m) close to the mapped ditch, but it is not known how they relate to the hearths. The hearths (dims 1.2m x 1.05m, T 0.07m to 2.4m x 1.95m, T 0.2m) consisted of spreads of charcoal and oxidised clay over the natural. Four other spreads of charcoal were located further away. These were less substantial (dims 0.45m x 0.3m to 1.36m x 0.95m; T 0.02-0.05m) spreads of charcoal-flecked soil within the topsoil. (Murphy 2001) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 16 February 2021

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