Enclosure in Rivers

In the north west corner of a field of rough pasture which slopes from south to north, adjacent to the Annacotty roundabout junction R445 and L1165. Remains consist of an oval-shaped enclosure defined by a ditch was identified by Celie O'Rahilly from examination of OSi 1:10,000 aerial photographs (OS 3/9195 taken 13/09/1985) prior to the construction of the Limerick ring road. This monument is not indicated on any edition of the OS maps. No surface remains visible of this extant enclosure site the precise location of which has now been identified by archaeological test trenching (Tobin 2018). Test excavations in 2005 by Cia McConway and Niall Gregory under Licence No. 05E1251 revealed the remains of a possible fulacht fiadh (LI006-094001----), possible kiln corn-drying (LI006-094002----) and other miscellaneous features (LI006-094003----), in the NW quadrant of this field but the trenches failed to locate the presence of the enclosure (www.excavations.ie 2005:952; McConway 2008, 237). The excavator suggested that the site of the possible enclosure may have been severely impacted or possibly destroyed by the construction of the roadworks (McConway and Gregory 2008, 237). However an archaeological assessment and test excavations carried out in 2017 by Red Tobin under Licence No. 17E0450, identified the precise location of the extant enclosure and he summarised his findings as following; ‘These trenches confirmed the location of the Enclosure (diam. 50.17m N-S x 33.97m E-W) ditch in 5 out of the 6 trenches. It is likely that the Enclosure suffered some damage during the roadworks to the north and west of the field. The ADS trenches (05E1251) show that the interior of the enclosure displays evidence of intense activity in the past. The antiquity of the enclosure remains unknown. The excavation confirmed that archaeological material does not extend beyond the limits of the enclosure ditch’ (www.excavations.ie 2017:283; Tobin 2018). A geophysical survey which failed to identify the presence of the enclosure was carried out in this field by JML Surveys under licence No. 17R0144 as part of the archaeological assessment (Leigh 2017). The above features excavated in 2005 wee all located inside the enclosure and have been reinterpreted as features associated with this monument. These archaeological features were described as the following; Feature 1 is roughly circular in plan (Dims. L 0.53m, W 0.48m) consisting of charcoal-rich deposit and high quantity of fired sandstone. Feature 2 is sub-rectangular in plan (Dims. L 2.02m, W 1.13m) consisting of charcoal rich brown to black clay. See attached images taken from Archaeological Assessment Report by Redmond Tobin Compiled by: Fiona Rooney Date of upload: 15 June 2020