County: Louth Site name: MOUNTBAGNALL
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0150
Author: Finola O’Carroll, Cultural Resource Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Cremation pit
Period/Dating: Bronze Age (2200 BC-801 BC)
ITM: E 715856m, N 806213m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.992168, -6.233172
An assessment was carried out on 9 July 2001 in advance of the proposed development of five detached dwelling-houses. The site is located within two fields in the townland of Mountbagnall, in close proximity to a motte and bailey (SMR 8:72), no trace of which is visible on the existing landscape. A church site and graveyard (SMR 8:73) also lie to the south of the development, with the ground sloping to a noticeable dip between the church and the site.
Six trenches were excavated by mechanical digger. The soil profile exposed in all trenches was similar. The subsoil consisted of a sandy clay with a gravel component, the proportion of sand increasing in the southernmost trench. A layer of friable loam with sand and small pebble components overlay this. The sod-line extended 0.15m below the surface.
The first two trenches exposed two narrow gullies 1m apart and both c. 0.9m in width, suggestive of a double ditch and bank running perpendicular to the existing field boundary. No features were exposed in the third trench. The fourth trench exposed a pit c. 0.3–0.45m wide and 0.1m deep. It contained charcoal-stained soil and flecks of cremated bone. No features were exposed in Trenches 5 and 6.
Nothing to indicate activity related to the medieval monuments in the vicinity was noted. The pit may represent a cremation burial, possibly of Bronze Age date. The bone is being analysed to determine whether or not the pit represents a human burial.
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