County: Dublin Site name: BROOMFIELD
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Betty O'Brien
Site type: Enclosure
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 722525m, N 744753m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.438611, -6.155843
This site is one of three barely visible circular ditched enclosures, situated just below the south-facing brow of a low E/W ridge, on the 150' (45.7m) contour. Excavation revealed a flat circular area, 14m in diameter, enclosed by a ditch 0.9m to 1m deep (50 - 60cm into subsoil), with slight internal bank (10 - 15cm high x 1 - 1.5m wide) and sixteen pits. Fifteen of these pits were contemporary with the enclosure. One pit (No. 16) was earlier and was sealed beneath the internal bank. Around the entire circumference of the base of the ditch a line of 2" tile drains (c. 1800 - 1850) had been inserted, and a sod drain had been dug across the interior of the enclosure.
Pits Nos 1 and 12 contained remains of tree roots:- Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine) and Taxus (Yew) or Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas fir M. Scannell). Pit No. 16 (sealed beneath the internal bank) was larger and deeper than the other pits and yielded three sherds of Beaker pottery, a quantity of charcoal, Quercus (Oak), and burnt earth.
The evidence points to the enclosure being the remains of a ploughed out tree ring which had been erected in the 18th/19th century upon an area of Early Bronze Age activity.
