1999:489 - BALLYSIMON, Limerick

The site is c. 1 mile south of Limerick on the north side of the main Limerick-Tipperary road and is on the west edge of a terrace overlooking a bend in the River Groody. A subcircular enclosure was uncovered at this location during test-trenching by Fiona Rooney (Excavations 1998, 130, 98E0487) before the construction of the Southern Ring Road. This initial investigation revealed an enclosure ditch, which produced a single sherd of medieval pottery. A second trench in the interior of the enclosure demonstrated that it had been disturbed by cultivation activity.

A full excavation of this enclosure was carried out from September to December 1999 by the writer. It was also agreed with the client that two 50m-long strips of the road-take would be mechanically stripped to natural on either side of the enclosure in order to investigate the possibility that associated archaeological features existed outside the confines of the enclosure.

The enclosure
The subcircular enclosure was delimited by a ditch, averaging 4m wide and 1.5m deep, which was absent on the west side, where the enclosure was delimited by the riverside edge of the terrace. The internal area of the enclosure measured c. 35m in diameter, and an entrance causeway was found in the north side of the ditch. There were no extant remains of an enclosing bank, which appeared to have been backfilled into the ditch, and based on the ditch dimensions the bank may have originally been very substantial. Apart from a moderate amount of unhewn limestone boulders recovered from the southern extent of the ditch, there was no evidence to suggest that the bank had been revetted.

The ditch contained evidence for two phases of activity. The initial ditch cut (Phase 1) was flat-bottomed apart from a basal gully in the north-east corner. This ditch became infilled with collapsed bank material and backfilled dump material, including animal bones and charcoal-rich deposits.

These fills were then cut by a shallower and narrower ditch (Phase 2) that followed the line of the earlier ditch and disturbed the original entrance causeway. After the Phase 2 ditch had been almost completely infilled it was sealed by a redeposited layer of natural subsoil, perhaps originating from remaining bank material that was pulled over the ditch by later cultivation activity.

There was no evidence to indicate that the interior of the enclosure had been raised by material upcast from the ditch, as it was lower than the surrounding area, and all of the internal structural features were cut into the natural boulder clay horizon.

The foundation slot-trenches of two circular timber huts were uncovered near the centre of the enclosure. These were sealed by the ploughsoil layer, and both huts were disturbed by later cultivation activity. The central structure (Hut A) measured 7.8m in diameter, with a cobbled entrance surface uncovered on the north side of the hut. An earlier hut structure (Hut B), 6.8m in diameter, was uncovered to the north of Hut A. No finds were recovered from Hut B, but it was found to have been disturbed by the construction of Hut A.

A large number of post- and stake-holes were uncovered in the area between Hut B and the causewayed entrance, suggesting the presence of another structure in the north end of the site. Also, three small ironworking pits and one cooking pit were uncovered in the interior of the enclosure.

Monitoring of soil-stripping to the west and east of the enclosure
Two 50m-long strips of land on either side of the enclosure were mechanically stripped to the natural boulder clay. No archaeological features were uncovered to the west of the enclosure, within the river flood-plain below the terrace. A hut structure (Hut C) and small kiln were uncovered to the east of the enclosure, and both of these were excavated.

The circular hut was c. 10m to the east of the enclosure. It measured 7.7m in diameter and was of a similar construction to the huts within the enclosure. There was a break in the east side of the delimiting slot-trench, indicating the presence an entrance in this area.

A keyhole-shaped corn-drying kiln was uncovered c. 5m to the east of the hut entrance. This was a shallow, stone-lined feature 4.7m long and 2.1m wide. It was orientated north-south, with the bowl at the north end of the kiln and the fire-spot at the south end of the flue. There was no evidence of baffle stones or lintel stones in the flue. A shallow pit, with a charcoal-rich fill, lay 0.7m to the south of the kiln.

Artefacts
The ditch fills contained occasional finds such as animal bone, medieval pottery and iron nails. Finds from the interior of the site included medieval pottery sherds (both local and imported), dating to AD 1250–1350, a quernstone fragment and a stone mortar. Saintonge pottery sherds were uncovered in the fill of the Phase 2 ditch and in Hut A, the latest structure in the enclosure. The quernstone and stone mortar were both recovered from the make-up material of the cobbled entrance to this hut. The shallow pit to the south of the corn-drying kiln produced a sherd of locally produced medieval ware of a similar type to the sherds recovered from within the enclosure. No finds were recovered from the Phase 1 ditch fills or from Hut B, although it is intended to submit charcoal from both features for dating.

Preliminary conclusions
This enclosure has been interpreted, on the basis of its finds, morphology and siting, as a medieval ringwork. Later cultivation activity has transformed the morphology of the site, but it was clearly a subcircular enclosure delimited by a substantial ditch crossed by a causewayed entrance on the north side. The ditch was absent in the west side, where the enclosure was delimited by the edge of the terrace. The soil profile in the ditch was also disturbed, but the presence of redeposited natural subsoil towards the base and top of this feature indicated that the enclosure was once delimited by a bank that has since become levelled.

The artefactual evidence recovered from the enclosure shows that it was occupied in the late 13th/early 14th centuries. The enclosure is to the north of the site of a 14th-century church, currently in use as a graveyard, and the two sites may have been contemporary. This position of the enclosure, on the edge of a river terrace and close to the site of a medieval church, is indicative of a medieval ringwork. The artefactual assemblage supports such an interpretation.

The artefacts and features uncovered at Ballysimon suggest that this was a settlement site, with the occupants living in circular timber huts and carrying out their own ironworking and grain processing in what appears to have been a defended farmstead. The absence of the bank means that it is difficult to assess the precise defensive nature of the site. The evidence from the ditch and interior of the enclosure indicates that the occupation of the site continued into the 14th century, when it appears to have been abandoned. No artefacts were recovered from the Phase 1 basal ditch fills or the earliest interior structure (Hut B), and therefore the dating of the establishment of the site awaits the dating of charcoal and animal bone samples recovered from these features.

16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick