County: Dublin Site name: SAUCERSTOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Eoin Halpin
Site type: Building
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 715291m, N 749197m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.480161, -6.263037
Several excavations were carried out between May and October 1988, ahead of the construction of the North-eastern Pipeline, Phase 2, running from Abbotstown to Dundalk.
The site is on low lying ground to the west of Saucerstown House and to the south of the Broadmeadow River, at a point where it starts to rise gently southwards (100ft OD.).
This site was first noted when sherds of Leinster cooking ware and glazed medieval pottery were retrieved from the subsoil surface. A cursory investigation of the area revealed that the pipeline crossed an extensive cobbled surface and the presence of some larger boulders indicated that the remains of a structure might also be present. Two long trial trenches were trowelled back, revealing that that cobbles extended for a distance of over 20m and extended from the western fence line of the corridor for a distance of 7m-10m before petering out. The cobbles were set into subsoil and the surface was ploughed out in places.
Towards the northern limit of the cobbled area the basal course of a clay bonded wall was represented by a c.3m stretch of contiguous rounded stones which formed one face of the wall running roughly north/south. It joined a very poorly preserved stretch of basal-course masonry c. 1.5 long with no surviving faces, which appeared to represent a wall running off at right angles in a westerly direction. This portion had a maximum width of 0.7m-0.8m. The remainder of the structure had been destroyed completely.
At the southern limit of the cobbles the edge of the archaeological surface was defined by an escarpment 1.7 deep. It would appear that the pre-cobble surface had been purposefully levelled in this area where the ground begins to rise gradually.
Prior to excavation the position of the site was mentioned to the Archaeological Survey as it was hoped that if it constituted the remains of a farmstead it might have been recorded in early, pre-Ordnance Survey mapping of the area. It had not been recorded.
5 St. Catherine's Road, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
