County: Wicklow Site name: BALLYNAMUDDAGH, Bray
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0696
Author: Mary B. Deevy, ADS Ltd.
Site type: Cremation pit, Structure and Habitation site
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 727823m, N 716230m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.181163, -6.087633
The site was in Ballynamuddagh townland, on the western face of Bray Head, Co. Wicklow. It was a previously unknown site identified as a number of charcoal-filled pits during archaeological monitoring of topsoil-stripping before development of an 18-hole golf-course (see Excavations 2000, No. 1079). The site was excavated over fourteen weeks from 6 September to 14 December. On excavation, the site was revealed to be an extensive multi-period prehistoric site, which extended northwards and westwards beyond the area to be affected by the construction of the fairway. An area 40m by 20m was uncovered and excavated. (The following description is of a very summary and preliminary nature as post-excavation had yet to begin at the time of writing.)
Troughs and pits
A large number of subsoil-cut pits, post- and stake-holes were uncovered in the eastern area of the site, which did not form an obvious pattern during excavation and have yet to be examined post-excavation. Adjacent to these were a number of troughs, filled and covered with spreads of charcoal-rich soil and burnt stone.
Activity areas
The subsoil was overlain in a number of discrete areas by a shallow, very compact deposit of white clay, which contained numerous pockets of brown, silty clay with frequent finds of prehistoric pottery sherds and struck flint embedded in its surface. This compact white clay generally overlay subsoil, and it appeared to represent discrete areas of activity, although as yet no structures have been positively linked with it.
Possible small huts
In some parts of the site the topsoil was quite shallow and was mechanically removed directly onto subsoil to reveal a number of cut features. These included two adjacent, small, penannular slot-trenches. These were 2.5m and 2.8m in maximum diameter, with post-hole terminals. Their c. 0.5–0.6m-wide entrance gaps both faced south-west towards the Little Sugar Loaf Mountain. One of these small structures had a shallow, rather insubstantial, rectangular stone cist inside it (0.8m x 0.6m internal dimensions), which was overlain by a loose cairn. No bone or artefacts were recovered from either feature.
Possible circular building
An arc of eleven post-holes spaced at intervals of 0.1–0.3m and enclosing an area c. 6m in diameter was uncovered on the northern edge of the site. These have been interpreted as the truncated remains of a possible circular building, which continued beyond the area being excavated. A 1.1m gap facing south-west towards the Little Sugar Loaf Mountain may represent an entrance to this structure.
Ancient horizon/ground surface
A substantial part of the site was covered with a thick layer of dark brown, silty clay (F9), from which a large amount of prehistoric pottery sherds and struck flint was retrieved. The pottery has been preliminarily identified as Bronze Age (Helen Roche, pers. comm.). It is not yet clear over what length of time or by what means this layer accumulated on the site. A number of features were cut into the upper surface of this layer, including those described below.
Possible cremation pits and post-holes
The latest prehistoric activity on the site was in the form of a cluster of four small, shallow, bowl-shaped pits filled with charcoal-rich soil and burnt stone. These pits also had very small amounts of burnt bone, struck flint, a hammerstone and what may have been deliberately deposited small pebbles. The bone has yet to be identified by a palaeopathologist; however, if it is human these pits may represent token cremation burials. A number of post-holes were also cut into F9.
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