Not shown. — Ballyroe Upper

Archaeological monitoring by Margaret McCarthy, Archaeological Services Unit, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork, under licence No. 04E0112 uncovered some archaeological features which were not fully excavated. The results of the excavation were summarised as follows; ‘Pre-development testing was carried out at Ballyroe Upper, Kilfinnane, Co. Limerick, as part of a planning application for the construction of a single dwelling house. The site is adjacent to an enclosure [LI056-020----] and an old road. The ancient road, Bothar na bhFian [LI056-056----], forms the eastern boundary to the site and the enclosure is located on high ground to the north-east. The excavation of test-trenches across the footprint of the house and along the length of the driveway indicated that no archaeological features were present in those areas of the house site. A trench was also opened at the north-eastern end of the development to incorporate the percolation area and the exposure of potential archaeological features in this location necessitated the excavation of two additional investigative trenches to the south. The excavation of a trench in the area originally chosen for percolation uncovered a narrow linear band of dark-brown sediment. The feature measured 0.78m in width and from a surface observation appeared to contain many fills. A pit or post-hole was evident to the immediate west of the linear feature measuring 0.41m in diameter and the fill at the surface consisted of several scorched stones and relatively large quantities of charcoal. Both features cut into the orange boulder clay and were stratified beneath 0.5m of topsoil. They were clearly of some antiquity, given their stratigraphic position in the trench, although the absence of any other archaeological features made interpretation difficult. Another trench (Trench 5) was placed at the south-eastern corner of the site in order to determine if the linear feature identified in Trench 4 extended into this area of the site. The trench measured 20m in length and the linear feature became apparent immediately following removal of the topsoil. The surface of a possible backfilled ditch was also identified at the extreme eastern end of the trench adjacent to the route of Bothar na bhFian. This may represent a backfilled modern ditch associated with the hedgerow forming the eastern boundary to the site. A sixth trench was placed 8m to the east of the proposed house site in an area selected by the builder as a possible location for a tank that will be required to construct an alternative percolation system. It measured 8m in length and was excavated to a depth of 0.68m. Trenching revealed that there were no archaeological finds or deposits present. The test excavation indicated that no archaeological features were present in the area of the proposed house or the driveway. A number of potential features were noted, however, in the percolation area and one of these extended into another suitable location for percolation. The proposed percolation trench could not be excavated to the required depth in either of the chosen locations without impacting on the exposed archaeological features. The engineer therefore redesigned the percolation system in order to avoid intrusion into the archaeological strata. A tank was inserted 8m to the rear of the house and the percolation pipes were then placed on a raised bed. This proposed method was discussed on site with the builder and the landowner and a copy of a letter detailing the alternative percolation system was included with the original archaeological report submitted to Limerick County Council and the heritage division’ (McCarthy 2007, 238-9). Compiled by: Martin Fitzpatrick Date of upload: 15 November 2021