What is recorded here

Mucklagh 1 in County Offaly held two small circular pits of black charcoal and slag where someone heated and shaped metal beside a church and graveyard. Linda Hegarty excavated the deposits in February 2007 after they appeared in Trench 16, revealing a forgotten workshop hidden within level grazing land. The maker may have worked for the local community or travelled through with tools and ambition. Whatever the purpose, the heat and hammer work remained preserved in dark earth while the name and identity disappeared.

Mucklagh 1 was partially excavated by Linda Hegarty of Headland Archaeology under licence No. E2845 and is located c. 3.5km south-west of Tullamore in level grazing land. Immediately south-west of the proposed road-take is a church and graveyard. Evidence of metalworking (Contexts 008 and 009) was identified in Trench 16, c. 240m from the eastern end of the centre-line test-trench, and was excavated in February 2007. Contexts 008 and 009 were both almost circular in plan measuring 0.6m by 0.8m and 0.5m by 0.6m respectively. They contained moderately compact black charcoal-enriched silt with many pieces of slag and other metalworking debris. They also contained much charcoal. The two deposits were situated c. 2m apart within a trace outline of a possible linear feature. These features remained unexcavated due to their obvious archaeological nature and the increased risk of losing valuable information (Bennett 2010, 404). Compiled by Caimin O'Brien Date of upload/revision: 09 November 2011

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