County: Meath Site name: WOODPOLE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Mary Cahill, National Museum of Ireland
Site type: Cist
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 667036m, N 778217m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.749264, -6.983619
The cist was discovered at Woodpole, Co. Meath, when removing soil along the line of a new pathway from a house to a gate in the garden wall which opens into the adjoining field. The work was part of a larger programme of renovation of a house and garden. The site was recognised by the digger driver. A small quantity of cremated bone and sherds of a bowl were collected on the surface outside the cist. The excavation was carried out over a period of two days and did not extend beyond the cist and the pit into which it was inserted. The site is located on the top of a small natural hillock just above the 300' contour.
On inspection three slabs were lying on the surface. During the course of excavation it became clear that these were dislodged side-slabs and one end-slab. The cist had been severely damaged, with only an end-slab and one side-slab in situ. A stone which may have been the capstone was lying to one side.
The cist was small and shallow (0.7m x 0.7m x 0.3m approx. at a depth of 0.4m below field level). Given the amount of disturbance, including the complete stripping of the topsoil which had taken place all over the site, it is not inconceivable that the capstone was removed during an earlier phase of the work and that the cist and its contents were damaged then or subsequently. It is also significant that no further pottery was recovered from the cist or its environs and only a small quantity of bone was found in the backfill. A small amount of cremated bone was found, undisturbed, on the floor of the cist. There was no charcoal.
In summary, therefore, this site and its contents had been severely damaged presumably during the recent site clearance although an earlier disturbance, perhaps at the time the original house was built, is also possible but less likely as there is no evidence for any outbuildings, drains etc. in the immediate area.
Kildare Street, Dublin 2
