County: Clare Site name: NOUGHAVAL
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Sinéad Ní Ghabhláin, UCLA
Site type: House- medieval
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 521482m, N 696596m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.014299, -9.170135
The site excavated lies to the south-east of the medieval parish church of Noughaval, outside the present graveyard. Excavation was undertaken as part of a research project into ecclesiastical settlement within the diocese of Kilfenora. It was hoped to establish the chronological relationship of the settlement surrounding the graveyard to the medieval church and market place. Funding for this project is provided by UREP, University of California, Berkeley.
A single house site within the settlement was excavated. This was a rectangular stone-built, two-roomed structure (8.75m x 6m), lying within a low curvilinear stone enclosure, 13.5m in diameter. The walls of the structure were well-built and of double-walled construction, consisting of outer walls of dressed stone with rubble infill. The doorway lay midway in the south wall with a possible opposing doorway in the north wall. A hearth feature was uncovered in the east wall. A 1m trench was excavated running across the centre of the structure, in eleven 1 m x 1m units were excavated.
Owing to the light, permeable soil overlying the limestone bedrock, no stratigraphy survived in the centre of the house. However, in areas underlying rubble, stratigraphy was well preserved. Two occupation levels were identified. The later occupation is associated with the house and yielded large amounts of animal bone and other domestic material and artefacts datable to the 17th and later centuries, Underlying this occupation was a thick grey/white sterile deposit. This underlay the house and appears to have provided a level surface for its construction. Sealed beneath this stratum was another occupation level. This was identified in the western section of the house where there was evidence of intensive and extensive burning. No structure was identified with this occupation level. Associated with this occupation was domestic material but only one diagnostic artefact. This was a tiny polished bone die (7mm) decorated with double concentric circles around the dots. Identical dice from Dublin City excavations have been dated to the 13th century. Bone samples are being sent for radiocarbon dating to confirm the dating sequence outlined here.
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