Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Newtown (clanwilliam By., Kilmurry Ed)

Enclosure excavated prior to the construction of the M7 National Road. Archaeological material initially identified during test trenching carried out under Licence No. 00E0853 in advance of the Limerick Southern Ring-Road Project (Hayes 2000). The results of the testing recorded numerous features and ‘surface finds of Bronze Age funerary pottery and a fragment of an Early Christian glass armlet’ (www.excavations.ie 2001:787; Hayes 2003 241). Excavations in 2001 by Frank Coyne under Licence No. 01E0214 revealed the subtriangular enclosure, 25m east of another enclosure (LI006-092001-), 2 hut sites (LI006-092003-/-092004-), Cremation pit (LI006-092005-) and other miscellaneous features (LI006-092002-). Described as Newtown A, the results of the excavation were summarized as following; ‘The largest feature of this site was a large subtriangular enclosure, with a 5m-wide causewayed entrance to the east. The ditch was V-shaped in profile and averaged 3m in width. It was surrounded from east to north by a shallow trench, identified as a palisade trench, which averaged 0.5m in width. All features in the interior were uncovered immediately below the topsoil, and very little stratigraphy was in evidence. No bank was discovered, and it is likely that it was backfilled into the ditch. This enclosure has maximum dimensions of 40m north–south by 50m. A series of post-holes and a slot-trench around the causeway may represent an entrance feature, such as a wooden gate or tower. This ditch enclosed a large figure-of-eight structure, measuring 10m north–south by 9m, with a probable entrance opening to the east. This structure was of slot-trench construction, with a cluster of internal post-holes in the southern side. An iron knife, hone stones and part of a blue glass armlet were recovered from the slot-trench. Similar glass armlets have been found at Irish high-status sites such as Lagore crannog, as well as Carraig Áille, Lough Gur, Co. Limerick. Two glass beads were recovered from pits in the interior of the house, the more impressive of the two being a green glass example with herringbone decoration in yellow paste or enamel. This bead is similar to one recovered at Reask, Co. Kerry. This type of bead appears to be of Irish manufacture and may date from the second half of the first millennium AD. However, in the northern portion of the slot-trench the top of a human skull, a thumbnail flint scraper and animal teeth were recovered. Several modern drainage features were also excavated within the enclosure, as well as several pits, which did not contain any diagnostic artefacts or charcoal. A second circular structure, 5m in diameter, of slot-trench construction, was also excavated to the north of the figure-of-eight house. It did not produce any artefacts or charcoal, so it is unclear to which phase of activity this belongs’ (www.excavations.ie 2001:79; Coyne 2001, 242). Radiocarbon dates indicate that the main activity dates from the 8th to 10th century; ‘A charcoal sample from the slot-trench of the figure-of-eight house yielded a date of AD 700-1015 (Beta 182313), while a post-hole containing a hone stone produced a date of AD795-1280 (Beta 182314). Charcoal from the basal fill of the ditch was dated to AD 795-1030 (Beta 182317), while an upper fill, probably dating from the final levelling of the site, produced a date of AD 1010-1300 (Beta 182323)’ (Coyne and Collins 2003, 19). The sub-triangular shape of this monument is similar in morphology to the ringfort (LI012-056----) in the townland of Islandduane, Co. Limerick. Compiled by: Fiona Rooney Date of upload: 16 June 2020