County: Meath Site name: NINCH/LAYTOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 28:25 Licence number: 98E0501
Author: Martin Reid, for ADS Ltd.
Site type: Enclosure and Fulacht fia
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 715985m, N 772027m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.685076, -6.244108
Two test-trenches were excavated by Eoin Halpin through the site of a possible fulacht fiadh, and, although no archaeological features were uncovered, burnt stone was identified. Monitoring followed, and the licence was transferred to the writer.
A prehistoric ditched enclosure site was identified on the ridge. This enclosure was c. 33m in external diameter with a V-shaped ditch 1.4–1.8m wide and 0.9–1.2m deep. The lower fill contained flint, pottery and other stone artefacts. The pottery has been provisionally dated to the mid-Bronze Age. Monitoring also uncovered a number of pits filled with burnt stone. One of these pits was thought to be a fulacht fiadh trough pit.
Further clearances are to be undertaken in 2000 before extensions to the housing development, and these will be monitored for further archaeological features/materials.
37 Errigal Road, Drimnagh, Dublin 12
