County: Louth Site name: KNOCKNAGORAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 5:5 Licence number: 98E0318
Author: Finola O'Carroll
Site type: Earthwork
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 713477m, N 816323m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.083500, -6.265649
This site is listed in both the Archaeological inventory of County Louth and the Archaeological survey of County Louth. The same entry appears in both volumes: 'Earthwork (site) Marked as an antiquity on the current OS 6-inch map and known locally as "O'Hagan's Fort". No visible surface trace except curve in field fence to S (C c. 50m).
The curving field fence is composed of a bank faced with granite boulders and surmounted by a hedge, similar to the other field fences in this area. The northern circuit of the site is defined by a scarp as shown on the OS maps. The topographical setting and placename evidence suggest that the site is that of a levelled ringfort.
The proposed development consisted of a small housing estate built to the west of the earthwork, which was to be retained as a landscaped feature but would have an access road pass beside it. Trenching in the areas closest to the earthwork that will be disturbed by house building did not reveal any archaeological material.
A trench was dug to the north of the monument along the line of the proposed access route. Natural stony clay was exposed under topsoil at a depth of 0.1–0.3m for 19m at the eastern end of the trench. Westwards, closer to the earthwork, a deposit of grey soil overlying stones was uncovered for a distance of 17m along the trench. The grey soil had a maximum thickness of 0.2m and was a soft, sandy, silty clay that contained no stones and only occasional charcoal inclusions. The stones below were mostly of grey-green shale, with occasional granite, and had an average size of 100mm, with some up to 300mm. No artefacts were observed in either the soil or stone layers. These petered out at the western end of the trench, where topsoil, 0.3m thick, covered natural, orange, sandy clay.
Two further trenches were dug, which indicated that the grey soil spread upslope towards the earthwork for 5m and for a distance of 1m from the line of Trench 1. The stony layer spread further to the north than the grey soil.
In the western part of Trench 1 a short gully crossed it running east-west. This was 0.5m wide and 0.25m deep. It had a fill of soft, dark grey/ brown, sandy loam with small to medium-sized (200mm) stones. No finds were recovered from it.
The deposits of grey soil and loose stones are of unknown date. They follow an approximate north-east/south-west course in a hollow at the base of the slope from the earthwork. They are 15m from the top of the scarp defining the earthwork and are therefore unlikely to represent the filled-in ditch of a ringfort. Also, the stones appear to be deliberate dumping rather than a gradual accumulation. As a spring is marked on the map but is not now visible, they may represent a reclamation of wet ground. If so, the materials used to reclaim the hollow may have derived from the banks of the ringfort, of which there is now no trace.
The small gully is a possible archaeological feature.
It was recommended that these features be further investigated if the road layout could not be altered to avoid them.
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