N7 Nenagh to Limerick High Quality Dual Carriageway Archaeological Resolution Project Annaholty Site 4, E2312, Co. Tipperary Final Excavation Report Author: Nial O’Neill with contributions by Maura O’Malley and Heidi Jacobsen Director: Liam McKinstry Site Chainage Ordnance Datum NGR Annaholty Site 4 8300 49.59 169265/164764 Date: August 2009 Client: Limerick County Council Headland Project Code: NNL06 Townland: Annaholty Parish: Kilcomenty Barony: Owney & Arra OS 6” Sheet No: TN‐031 Report Status: Approved N7 Nenagh to Limerick High Quality Dual Carriageway Archaeological Resolution Project Annaholty Site 4, E2312, Co. Tipperary Final Excavation Report Author: Nial O’Neill with contributions by Maura O’Malley and Heidi Jacobsen Director: Liam McKinstry Site Chainage Ordnance Datum NGR Annaholty Site 4 8300 49.59 169265/164764 Date: August 2009 Client: Limerick County Council Headland Project Code: NNL06 Townland: Annaholty Parish: Kilcomenty Barony: Owney & Arra OS 6” Sheet No: TN‐031 Report Status: Approved Headland Archaeology Ltd: N7 Nenagh to Limerick HQDC E2312, Annaholty Site 4 Final Report CONTENTS PAGE Executive Summary 3 1 Introduction 4 2 Site description and location 4 3 Historical and archaeological background 4 4 Aims and methodology 7 5 Excavation results 8 6 Discussion 9 7 Conclusion 14 8 Archive quantities 15 References 16 Acknowledgements 18 List of Figures 1 Location of Annaholty Site 4, E2312 2 Location of Annaholty Site 4, E2312 on RMP extract 3 E2312 Layout of site 4 Plan and southeast‐facing section of probable trough (013) 5 West‐facing section of spread (005) and pits (004) and (007) 6 Plan and south‐facing section of (009) List of Plates 1 Pre‐excavation shot of site, southwest‐facing 2 Working shot of site clean back, southeast‐facing 3 Mid‐excavation of probable trough (013), northwest‐facing 4 Section of (015), southeast‐facing 5 Mid‐excavation of (004), (005) and (007), east‐facing 1 Headland Archaeology Ltd: N7 Nenagh to Limerick HQDC E2312, Annaholty Site 4 Final Report Appendices Appendix 1 Context register Appendix 2 Sample register Appendix 3 Photographic register Appendix 4 Drawing register Appendix 5 Matrix Appendix 6 Palaeoenvironmental samples assessment report Appendix 7 Radiocarbon dating results 2 Headland Archaeology Ltd: N7 Nenagh to Limerick HQDC E2312, Annaholty Site 4 Final Report Executive Summary This report presents the results of archaeological investigations carried out on behalf of Limerick County Council as part of the N7 Nenagh to Limerick Archaeological Resolution Contract. Phase 1 test trenching of the route was carried out by Judith Carroll and Company Ltd and Aegis Archaeology Ltd. between January and March 2006, under Ministerial Direction Number A026. Seven sites of archaeological potential were identified in the townland of Annaholty including the one which is the subject of this report, which during testing was assigned the sub‐scheme number A026/159. For the purposes of excavation this site was given the registration number E2312 and named Annaholty Site 4. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage & Local Government, following consultation with the National Museum of Ireland, directed that Phase 2 Archaeological Resolution should proceed. Archaeological testing carried out under Test‐Trenching by Aegis Archaeology Ltd under Ministerial Direction Numbers A026/159 on this site in 2006 identified a ‘burnt mound’ (Collins 2006). Full archaeological resolution was conducted on this site between 16 and 25 January 2007. This revealed a probable trough, three pits and four discreet deposits all composed of, or containing frequent charcoal and heat‐affected stone. The middle fill of the probable trough returned a calibrated date range of 1612‐1501 cal BC (2σ) (UBA‐11751) providing evidence for activity in the early to middle Bronze Age. One of the four discreet deposits to the south of the trough returned a calibrated date range of 1034‐1155 cal AD (2σ) (UBA‐11752) from a single charred cereal grain suggesting this site saw activity again in the medieval period. A summary Report of works on the site was completed by Headland Archaeology in July 2007. The preliminary excavation report was completed and submitted to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the National Museum of Ireland in January 2009. 3 Headland Archaeology Ltd: N7 Nenagh to Limerick HQDC E2312, Annaholty Site 4 Final Report 1 Introduction The scheme consists of 35.7 km of High Quality Dual Carriageway. It starts at the existing Newport Junction in the townlands of Carrowkeel and Mountshannon and runs north‐ eastwards towards Nenagh (Carrigatogher), excluding two areas of bog in Lisnagry (Drominboy) and in Gooig (Annaholty) and continues to Ballintotty at the end of the Nenagh Bypass, which will be widened. The work described here was undertaken under the N7 Nenagh to Limerick Archaeological Resolution Contract. The project is funded by the Irish Government and the European Union, through Limerick County Council/ National Roads Authority and under the National Development Plan 2000‐2006. Headland Archaeology Ltd. was commissioned by Limerick County Council to undertake the works. An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was prepared in 2003, with Margaret Gowen & Co. compiling the Architectural and Cultural Heritage Assessment for the route. This formed Section 5.12 of the EIS produced as a joint venture by RPS MCOS Scetauroute. Full archaeological resolution was conducted on this site between 16 and 25 January 2007. 2 Site description and location (Figure 1) Annaholty Site 4 (NGR 169265/164764, chainage 8300), was situated on the edge of a low depression within the landscape. This area is between the Arra Mountains to the north and west and the Silvermines mountains to the south and east. The rolling nature of the terrain along the road take in this area is broken on a number of occasions by thinly covered protrusions of bedrock. Glacial sands and gravels of mixed sandstone‐shale composition, and limestone in places, are characteristic of the rolling lowlands in a broad area stretching between Newport and Birdhill. Locally the topography is interspersed with small sandstone hillocks out‐cropping frequently through the gently rolling glacial till. The site was under rough pasture at the time of excavation. The land around Annaholty Site 4 rose gradually out of this depression up to a number of low hills especially to the south where an east/west oriented local road was located. The field in which the site was excavated was in use as rough pasture for cattle. The area was covered with a thick layer of peat (over a meter thick in the western parts of the site) which overlaid natural clay sub‐soils. The site and its immediate environs were extremely water‐logged which was due to the topography, which acted like a bowl and retained much of the water which drained into it from the higher ground. Annaholty Site 4 was located within close proximity to two other sites, Annaholty Site 3, E2314 which was located c. 133 m to the northeast on much lower ground and Annaholty Site 5, E2326 which was situated c. 266 m to the south on the other side of the local road. 3 Historical and archaeological background The archaeological potential of the townland had been documented in the EIS for the project (Gowen 2003). Here it was noted that from the prehistoric period the archaeological potential was represented by stray finds recovered by workmen in the 1940s. Exact find spots of most finds are unknown; finds include a Neolithic spearhead (NMI Ref: 1943:133), fragments of two polished stone axes (NMI Ref: 1944:257, 258), a bronze spearhead (NMI Ref: 1947:228) and a leather shoe (NMI Ref: 1941:1042). The bronze spearhead is recorded as having been found at ‘Toreen’, which represents ‘Toreheen Island’ in Annaholty townland. Additionally, the North Munster Antiquarian Journal (1950) also records the discovery and excavation of a 4 Headland Archaeology Ltd: N7 Nenagh to Limerick HQDC E2312, Annaholty Site 4 Final Report timber road or togher (TN031:090) in a bog during the resurfacing of the N7 road at Annaholty in the 1940’s (Hanrahan 1950). The recorded archaeological heritage from the Early Christian period consists of a rectangular enclosure site (TN031:050) situated c. 300m southeast and a ‘Children’s burial grounds’ (Killeen) (TN031:049) situated c. 400m to the northwest of Annaholty Site 4 (Figure 2). The EIS contained no historical or archaeological information relating to the later medieval and post medieval periods in the area. The townland is situated to the northeast of Gooig in the Parish of Kilcomenty in the Oweny and Arra Barony, Co. Tipperary. The townland of Annaholty is recorded on the Parish map and is dominated and surrounded by large quantities of bog. Cartographic sources • Down Survey maps The townland is not named on the Barony map; however, areas of bog are depicted in that part of the Parish of Kilcomenty. • 1st edition Ordnance Survey map, 1839‐41, 6”: 1 Mile The south, northeast and northwest of this townland are dominated by bog or uncultivated ground. Toreheen Island has been recorded in the bog at the south of the townland. Some scattered small structures and a single lime kiln are recorded to the north of this island. Annaholty House and its small associated woodland are located in the centre of the townland, a lime kiln is recorded in land to the west of the house and additional small patches of woodland have been recorded to the north of Annaholty house. Several small structures with associated areas of woodland and fields have been recorded along the roadsides of the townland as have nine lime kilns, some isolated some in clusters. Occasional gravel pits/quarries have been noted. A burial ground ‘Kyle’ is recorded northwest of Annaholty House. An area of land in the northeast of the townland has been given the name Rossacreena • 2nd edition Ordnance Survey map, 1901‐2 partly revised, 1938/50 partly revised, 6”: 1 Mile The townland is quite similar on this edition of the maps, showing Toreheen Island in the south, Annaholty House in the centre and the sub‐division of Rossacreena in the northeast.