County: Dublin Site name: BALLOUGH (Part of)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: RMP 8:10 Licence number: 01E0384
Author: Christine Baker, Arch-Tech Ltd.
Site type: Habitation site
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 719363m, N 755011m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.531483, -6.199506
The townland of Ballough (Part of), Lusk, consists of a single plot which extends east from the Skerries Road. Two trenches were opened by machine extending from the western boundary (street front) eastwards. Trench A measured 64.8m in length and averaged 0.97m in width. Trench B was located close to the southern field boundary and measured approximately 37.2m in length and averaged 0.98m in width.
The stratigraphy of the site was straightforward and consistent across the site. Topsoil, a dark brown friable silty clay, overlay an orange marly subsoil. A total of ten features were identified, all cut into the natural subsoil. Features 1–5 were situated within Trench A and Features 6–10 within Trench B. The results of the test excavation indicate a typical medieval plot. Towards the street front are a number of possible structural features (F1, F2, F7 and F8). F3 is a broad ditch (5.8m in width and 1.1m in depth) which may have extended south towards F9 to form a subdivision of the east–west plot. Beyond this are F4 and F10, which appear to have been pits.
The layout of the plot, the spatial relationship of the archaeological remains within it and the recovery of stratified fragments of medieval pottery (including Leinster Cooking Ware) suggest an urban settlement datable to the 12th–14th centuries.
32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2
