1999:248 - GRACEDIEU, Dublin

An assessment and limited archaeological excavation were undertaken at Gracedieu, Co. Dublin, as part of the reinforcement of the Brownsbarn to Ballough Gas Pipeline (formerly known as the Northeastern Pipelines, Phases I and II). The site was first discovered on removal of topsoil during the Phase II pipeline operation in 1988 (Margaret Gowen, Excavations 1988, 16–17). The complex is within three fields south of the Ballyboughal Road, c. 1.5 miles west of the N1 Swords to Lusk road. During the Phase II pipeline operation an enclosed cemetery comprising 65 poorly preserved individuals, seven of whom were interred in stone-lined and covered graves, was uncovered, as well as enclosure ditches and later medieval settlement and industrial remains. The reinforcement pipeline corridor runs parallel to the existing and archaeologically resolved area of the 1988 NEP II, and it consequently encroached on the constraint area for the site as designated by the SMR.

A geophysical survey was undertaken across the proposed new corridor before the assessment, revealing two enclosures as well as a number of linear and dipolar anomalies that provided targets for the assessment stage investigation.

Ten assessment trenches were opened along the western side of the field over a distance of 175m north-south by 30m east-west. The trenches revealed a number of ditch features including the western circuits of the two enclosure ditches detected through aerial photography and geophysical survey. The south-lying enclosure represents the cemetery enclosure excavated as part of the 1988 NEP II investigation. On the basis of the assessment results it was agreed, in consultation with Dúchas The Heritage Service, to clear the topsoil from the proposed corridor at Gracedieu in order fully to address and record the archaeological features that would be affected by the pipe-trench and the drive track.

The proposed line of the pipe-trench was marked out through this area to allow the features crossed to be preserved by total record. East of the proposed pipe-trench an area for the construction drive track was also excavated to assess the impact on archaeological features within this area. The excavation revealed the western ditch circuit of the main, south-lying enclosure, which contained the cemetery remains recorded during NEP II operations in 1988. Here the ditch was found to be V-shaped, at most 4m wide by 2.5m deep. Also uncovered was the ditch of an apparent conjoined D-shaped enclosure, which was known to lie immediately north of the cemetery enclosure through both aerial photography and geophysical survey results. A large north-south-aligned ditch along the western limit of the corridor was found to be largely filled in during the late 17th or early 18th century and appears to represent either the remains of a mill-race or a later boundary feature that may have defined the nunnery precinct during post-medieval times. This feature was directly affected by the line of the pipe-trench and was excavated before construction. Other features of note included at least one multi-directional corn-drying kiln, 4m in diameter, and an ironworking area comprising a spread of waste slag and a pit and post-hole setting surrounding a hearth.

Finds from the excavation were largely 17th-century or later, comprising patterned ceramics and bottles, as well as window glass and copious amounts of butchered animal bone. Several sections of the cemetery enclosure ditch to be affected by the construction were excavated, revealing finds of early medieval date including bone pins and pottery of post-13th-century date. No human remains were recovered from the excavation area.

Agreement with the contractor was reached before the construction of the pipe-trench through Gracedieu to infill and raise the drive track level so as not to affect the enclosure ditches revealed during the assessment. Features such as the corn-drying kilns and the metalworking area were fully recorded before the drive track was constructed, preserving them in situ.

2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin