County: Dublin Site name: BALALLY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 22:36 Licence number: 00E0370
Author: Sylvia Desmond, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd.
Site type: Ringfort - unclassified and Enclosure
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 717666m, N 726428m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.275119, -6.235744
Site 2, Balally, Dundrum, Co. Dublin, is situated along the route of the South-Eastern Motorway, which will run for 9km from Loughlinstown to Ballinteer. Ten trenches were laid out in an attempt to locate an earthwork/enclosure, discernible on aerial photographs, which may be associated with the Norman church of Moreen, known as St Olaf’s Church. However, a strap tag of 9th/10th-century date had been located close to the church by Charles Mount (Excavations 1990, 29), suggesting that the church may be of pre-Norman origin.
The test-trenches revealed a portion of a possible bivallate earthwork enclosure to the south of the church, which corroborates the aerial photographs. Several ditches and a bank were revealed and a sherd of medieval pottery, local ware, was retrieved from one of the ditches. A slight rise in the topography in this area indicates the presence of a bank.
Excavations by Mark Clinton at Carrickmines (see Excavations 2001, No. 335) to the immediate east of the test-trenches may have revealed a further portion of the church enclosure.
The enclosure and its interior should be fully excavated prior to the construction of the routeway.
25 Rowan Hall, Millbrook Court, Milltown, Dublin 6
