2001:328 - BALLYMOUNT GREAT, Dublin

Monitoring of soil clearance in the area of the gate-tower of the proposed LUAS light rail system was carried out during November and December 2001 (see Excavations 2001, No. 359). It was found that up to 2m of the upper levels of soil were introduced to the area as a result of ground clearance for the construction of the M50 several years ago. As the area was reduced to the required level, several linear features were evident, cutting an archaeological horizon and the natural subsoil. A brief investigation of one of the features established the presence of substantial quantities of North Leinster Cooking Ware along with other sherds of locally produced medieval pottery.

A separate excavation licence was applied for on the basis of the quantities of pottery being recovered and the features were excavated during the week before Christmas. The area initially excavated measured 16.4m (north–south) by 7.4m. An adjoining area to the west measuring 26.6m (north–south) by 3m was excavated over the first week in January.

The features excavated related to two distinct phases: the earliest phase, suggested by a series of shallow trenches and gullies, dated from the 13th and 14th centuries, when this area of the Pale would have been subjected to intensive agricultural processes. Although one of the features was ovoid and initially suggestive of a structure, upon excavation it became more likely that the features were cut to drain the area. A pit containing cattle horns was suggestive of farmstead activity; however, no other finds were recovered apart from large amounts of locally produced pottery. It seems likely that the pottery was introduced into the gullies to assist drainage, a feature which has been noted by Linzi Simpson in her excavation of the church of St Secundinus, Dunshaughlin, Co. Meath (Excavations 1995, 230, 94E0178).

The second phase of activity related to a large field drain that would appear to have been recut as a field boundary. This linear feature extended east–west, the drain component consisting of well-positioned limestone rubble constructed along the base of a sharp cut in the subsoil. Several fragments of hand-made brick were recovered from the stones in the drain, suggesting that the feature dated from the period after the destruction of the manor house in 1646. The first edition of the Ordnance Survey depicts the linear extent of the feature as a field boundary, and the feature no longer survived above ground by the time of the publication of the second edition.

2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin