County: Dublin Site name: Astagob, Co. Dublin
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR DU017-074SMR DU017-007 Licence number: —
Author: —
Site type: GRAVES OF INDETERMINATE DATE
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 706208m, N 736241m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.365691, -6.404176
In March 1959 human remains were discovered during land reclamation works in Astagob townland, near Summerton House, Castleknock, Co. Dublin.65 The find was reported to the Gardaí at Blanchardstown, who informed the National Museum. According to the landowner, Mr Laidlaw, the land had not been cultivated in the past 40 years. Fragments of human bone were uncovered by tractor ploughing, and bone lay on the tilled surface over an area measuring approximately 12m by 18m. The site was investigated by Breandán Ó Ríordáin. Two trial trenches were dug in the area where the bone was discovered. The first trench uncovered a skeleton at a depth of 0.13m below ground level. It was aligned north/south with the head to the north. The second trench revealed a second burial (of an adult) aligned west/east with the head to the west, and the bones of an infant were found nearby. No artefacts were discovered with the burial, but according to the landowner an ox tooth was found at the same level as the burial, close to the skull. There was no evidence for structural stones, which would suggest that the burials were placed in unlined pits. The following month a second report of discovery of skeletal material was received. According to the landowner, this burial was in a crouched position and appeared to have some stones surrounding it. Mr Laidlaw also stated that there appeared to be a second stratum of burials below the first level. The site was not visited by the NMI on this occasion.66
65. SMR DU017-074——. There are two townlands with the name Astagob on the OS 6in. sheet 17, one in Castleknock parish and the other in Clonsilla parish. The location of this site is not known as it was not marked on the map, but a mound mentioned in a ‘neighbouring field’ is probably the site listed by the SMR as a ‘Ringfort, unclassified, possible’ in Astagob (Clonsilla parish); SMR DU017-007——; IGR 306281 236216. Summerton House, the residence of the landowner, is in Diswellstown townland.
66. None of the bone from this site was acquired by the Museum.
