EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Tipperary
Killoran (31), Co. Limerick
Early Medieval Ecclesiastical Settlement
Grid Ref: S21066615 (221065/166153)
SMR No: TI036-020
Excavation Licence: 98E0269
Excavation Duration/Year: July 1998
Site Director: Paul Stevens (Margaret Gowen Ltd.)
An excavation in July 1998 at the centre of an early medieval ecclesiastical enclosure at
Killoran uncovered a cluster of early medieval pits- two with evidence for in situ ironworkingas
well as a possible internal wattle partition. The ecclesiastical site was located at the
southern terminus of a long glacial ridge which formed a low peninsula surrounded on three
sides, to the south and west by bog (now reclaimed) and by the curving line of the Moyne
stream 50-70m to the east.
A series of excavations were undertaken as part the development of Lisheen mine near
Moyne, Thurles close to the border between Tipperary and Kilkenny. The study area
comprised three townlands Derryfadda, Killoran and Cooleeny in Derryville Bog which is part
of the southern extent of the Littleton raised bog complex. This excavation at Killoran 31
involved the installation of an electricity pole unit and required a rectangular cutting 6m by
5m (120m OD) in the centre of the enclosure up against a modern field boundary bisecting
the enclosure (Fig. 268).
The site was probably founded by St. Odran prior to A.D. 563. It consisted of a large subcircular
enclosure 155m in diameter, defined by a curving bank and ditch preserved in the
line of a modern field boundary and partly as a low raised-platform. No trace of the site
survived to the north of a modern bisecting field boundary.
Several associated pits were clustered together in the southeast area of the cutting. Two of
these pits were rich in ironworking waste and contained iron slag and raw bloom (un-worked
iron). One oval pit – 0.66m east-west by 0.45m north-south and 0.15m deep – with heavily
fire-reddened sides and base contained a large quantity of iron slag, part of the stone base of
a furnace and a tiny fragment of bone. Charcoal from two pits was identified as old wood of
oak and yew branches (six years old) and produced a 2Σ radiocarbon date of A.D. 431-679.
The next phase of activity comprised an internal wattle partition inside the large enclosure
which probably post-dated the ironworking activity. Two overlapping parallel linear slot
trenches bisected the cutting and were associated with a cluster of post- and stakeholes
roughly aligned to the trenches. A third linear feature or gully cut almost at right angles to
the line of the two slot-trenches and stopped short of them. The three features delineated
the majority of excavated features and could represent the remains of an internal wattle
partition within the large enclosure.
Several features and clusters of postholes of some antiquity were also uncovered within the
cutting though it was not clear if they were associated with the linear slot-trenches. Finds
included tiny fragments of bone from the fill of one of the slot-trenches. One posthole from
the site also contained a sherd of poorly-fired coarse early medieval pottery.
Further excavated evidence for early medieval activity in Killoran townland included a possible
unenclosed hut site as well as burnt/roasting pits and land reclamation activity from various
sites (Gowen et. al. 2005, 255-56 & 284-95).
A relatively recent east-west aligned field bank bisected the enclosure. The cutting was
located against the bank and the excavation established that it was built upon an earlier but
contemporary ditch that cut the site. Various residential lumps of iron slag, post-medieval
pottery sherds and two iron objects were associated with the bank.
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