1987:41 - KELLS, Townparks, Meath

Excavation took place over a ten-week period from October to December 1987 on the site of a proposed new Garda District Headquarters to be built by the Office of Public Works who funded the excavation.

The site is located immediately to the north and west of the stone-roofed oratory known as 'St Columba's House' and 150m north-north-west of the round tower.

Although located on the summit and eastern side of a low hill, the natural steep slope of the ground had been levelled off in the 1950s by building up the eastern end with a 2m depth of rubble fill and completely concreting over the surface to convert the area into a cattle mart.

At the east end of the site two separate 4m-long portions, 6m apart, of a curving medieval ditch were uncovered. This ditch had a U-shaped profile averaging 1.2m wide and 0.4m deep, filled with a fairly homogeneous silty clay which contained five sherds of medieval pottery, a number of sawn pieces of antler (probably the discarded waste from manufacturing) and two small furnace fragments.

To the north-west of St Columba's House part of a larger V-sectioned ditch averaging 2.2m wide and 1.5m deep was revealed for a length of about 20m. This appears to have formed part of a circular enclosure. If the ditch were to continue its regular curve it would give an 'enclosure' of approximately 22m diameter, with the stone oratory sited a few metres outside the ditch.

At the north end the ditch expanded both in width and depth before ending at what seems to be an entrance which had a large number of stakeholes, including two main rows running parallel to the ditch end. The ditch was partly rock-cut and the fill consisted of several different layers and contained a large quantity of animal bones. Finds from it included a plain bronze brooch from very close to the base, possibly of 7th-century date.

Other finds included a bronze needle and ring fragment, an iron ring-handle, hook and knife, a furnace bottom and slag, a blue glass bead, a bone pin, a stone bead, whetstones and a flat perforated disc and a number of naturally water-rounded stones. The 'enclosure' does not surround the summit of the hill but is sited partly on the higher ground and partly on the eastern slope.

Outside the ditch to the west, a shallow ash- and charcoal-filled pit contained a bead of green and opaque yellow glass.

To the north-east of the ditch terminal a number of partially exposed features in the corner of a cutting included a very small, vaguely defined pit containing some very coarse, undecorated, flat-based pottery of uncertain but possibly Late Bronze Age date.

A number of large post-medieval pits of uncertain function were also excavated.

At the time of writing it is not yet certain whether further excavation at the site will be possible. However, the results of the excavation should give some information on activities in Kells at different times and possibly prior to the arrival of the monks from lona at the beginning of the 9th century.

Ballybrack, Hacketstown, Co. Carlow