1980-84:0199 - CORBETSTOWN (Kilpatrick), Westmeath

The complete line of the enclosure was recovered by means of a series of cuttings to the east and north, and by making extensive use of aerial photography to help determine where cuttings might be made. The site proved to be somewhat smaller than had originally been estimated, having a north-south diameter of just under 100m. At one point to the south-west, the remains of a well-constructed stone facing on the bank survived for up to three courses of well-set and well-matched large stones.

Elsewhere, this facing had been removed, the stones forming part of the fill of the ditch. In the south-west sector evidence for ridge and furrow cultivation as well as indications of a substantial rectangular structure and a stone-lined, corn-drying kiln were revealed.

Among the artefacts recovered were numerous portions of brooch pins and ring pins, some small iron knives and other iron objects, pieces of worked bone and antler, some sherds of coarse ware pottery of a type already found on the site and another fragment of E ware. In addition, a portion of a tinned copper-alloy mount was found, about 5cm on length, 3cm in width, neatly rounded at the finished end, with three rivet holes unevenly set around the edge. The object is in remarkably fine condition and is richly decorated with a boldly incised design based on opposed peltae with trumpets and scrolls.

A small cutting was opened within the churchyard to the north of the church ruins, revealing the foundation of the north wall. Although there were no surface indications, the considerable concentration of human burial was encountered at less than 40cm below the surface. In all, in a cutting 2.5x5m over 40 individuals were represented, infants and young children accounting for 32 of these. Of the remaining adults and adolescents, where sex could be determined, time proportions of male to female were roughly equal. Almost all of these burials were stratified between a construction layer and a collapse layer relating to a reconstruction of the church and its final collapse. Beneath the construction layer a number of enigmatic features was encountered including a deep trench and part of a rectangular feature, both cutting deeply into the boulder clay. Some postholes were also identified, which may have related to the latter feature. A number of bone pins was recovered, together with three fragments of F ware, portion of a copper alloy strip and a tiny, but beautifully made, copper alloy bird set on a ribbed tang. This object is best paralleled by a somewhat similarily shaped object from the excavations at Whitby in Yorkshire.

A second kiln of the ‘key-hole’ type was located within the western sector, which contained substantial deposits of grain and burned material. In this area too, a series of very large well-defined curving trenches with associated postholes up to 60cm+ in diameter was uncovered, indicating the presence here of a large structure, probably circular in shape. Towards the centre of this sector an area of much disturbance was opened, which yielded quantities of medieval pottery, together with a carefully concealed large iron key, probably the key of the 15th- or 16th-century church.