Moated site in Gorteen (pubblebrien By.)

On poorly drained land with moderate views in all directions, immediately N of stream marking townland boundary with Killeen, 15m E and 215m W of the townland boundary with Ballycarrane. A corn-drying kiln (LI021-180----) lies 20m to N. Depicted on the 1840 OS 6-inch map as a circular shaped area enclosed by a bank. Indicated on the 1897 OS 25-inch map as a raised square-shaped area (approx. dims. 36m N-S; x 37m E-W) defined by a scarp. Site inspected in 1991 by Celie O’Rahilly, Executive Archaeologist, Limerick Corporation prior to the construction of the Limerick-Adare road when it was recorded that there were no surface remains visible of the site which was situated on waterlogged land (O'Rahilly 1991). Site surveyed by ASI in 2000 when it was recorded that no surface remains of the levelled monument were visible. A site assessment carried out by Audrey Gahan in advance of construction of the proposed N20/N21 Adare-Annacotty road scheme, described the site as ‘a sub-rectangular mound, but over time has been heavily truncated, so that all that now remains visible are a series of very slight humps and hollows’ (Gahan and Eoghan 1997, 1; Excavations 1997, 114-5). Test excavations formed part of the assessment (Licence No. 97E0230) and the results suggested that the earthwork was the remains of ‘a medieval moated site, enclosed by a ditch and an external bank’ (www.excavations.ie 1997, Site No. 344). In September 1998 archaeological monitoring of topsoil stripping within the area of the road-take adjacent to the monument was carried out by Una Cosgrave (Licence 97E0230, Cosgrave 1998). The results of the monitoring revealed ‘A large portion of the ditch of the potential moated site' (Gahan, 1998, 3). The monument was partially excavated (approx. 60m x 15m) by Ciara McManus in 1998-999 (Licence No. 97E0230 ext.) and the results were summarised as following; ‘Audrey Gahan had opened a trench, roughly 60m x 15m, along the take of the road in the area of the monument. This revealed part of a rectangular ditched enclosure. The north-west corner of the enclosure, along with its west-facing line running south-west for a distance of 13.5m and the north-east-facing line running south-east for a distance of 31.5m, had been uncovered. Other activity within this trench included two earlier gully features and a number of shallow, pit-like features external to the enclosure. The ditch itself was fairly uniform in construction, ranging from a V-shaped to U-shaped cut and 3.72m in diameter at its widest point and 2.38m at its narrowest. The depth ranged from 1.43m to 0.2m. However, portions of the ditch were particularly stony in nature and may have represented the slump of an associated bank with stone facing. The fill also produced a quantity of animal bone and seashell material, along with a sherd of medieval pottery. Parts of the inner face of the ditch had been revetted with stone. At a distance of c. 9.5m south-east of the corner of the ditch an earlier drain was uncovered running north-west/south-east. Here the inner face of the enclosure ditch was revetted with a dry-stone face, 2m long and 0.42m deep. This earlier drain was V-shaped in section, 1.1m wide and 0.5m deep, containing a stony fill. That parts of the inner face of the enclosure's ditch were revetted, along with the large quantities of stone within the ditch fill, is evidence that the enclosure may have had an inner bank. The only features found within the enclosure were two very shallow, truncated pits with no obvious function. Externally in the east end of the trench a number of features were found. The first of these was a small pit, 9m to the north of the ditch, which contained a charcoal-rich fill with burnt stone. This feature may represent a rubbish pit. The results of excavations at AR2 further proved the existence of a rectangular moated enclosure of medieval date. This would have consisted of a rectangular ditch and possible inner bank. However, no evidence was produced from the excavation of an inner raised platform, nor was there any evidence of any internal structure. This lack of evidence, however, is probably due to the fact that not enough of the inside of the enclosure was included in the area of excavation. The evidence of earlier activity on site was limited to a series of gullies and an earlier ditch, none of which produced any dating evidence’ (www.excavations.ie 1998, Site No. 399; McManus 1999). Compiled by: Fiona Rooney Date of upload: 17 July 2020