County: Meath Site name: ABBEYLANDS, Duleek
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0165
Author: Cormac Mc Sparron
Site type: Hut site and Metalworking site
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 704528m, N 768618m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.656878, -6.418617
An excavation was carried out on behalf of the Office of Public Works prior to the construction of flood-banks along the River Nanny at Ashbourne Road. Initial supervision of topsoil-stripping had shown a concentration of medieval pottery to the north of Sampson’s Field and also stone settings. Excavations revealed the remains of at least one stone-footed building and a number of huts. There was evidence of a boundary ditch to the north-west of the buildings which in the late medieval period was replaced in places by a wall. Large amounts of medieval pottery were found, including much North Leinster coarseware and Trim Ware.
There appear to have been two main phases of activity on the site: an early phase, late 12th- or early 13th-century, of earthfast huts, which was associated with more coarse pottery and fewer wheel-thrown vessels, and a later phase, later 13th- or early 14th- century, of one or more stone-footed buildings, with wheel-thrown pottery being more common than coarseware. A considerable amount of ash, slag and crucible fragments were found, suggesting that some of the buildings may have been industrial in nature. In addition, a large number of iron artefacts were found, including nails and knives. Several pieces of lead/lead alloy were found, including one model axehead of lead alloy, and some irregularly shaped drops of lead, which may indicate manufacture of lead/lead-alloy artefacts.
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