County: Wicklow Site name: KILMURRY NORTH 2
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E1134
Author: Matt Mossop, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Pit and Hearth
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 725339m, N 713200m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.154543, -6.125953
Monitoring of the N11 road improvement scheme, which runs between Kilmacanogue Village and the southern end of Glen of the Downs, indicated the survival of archaeological features. These were subsequently excavated.
Archaeological features were located in two areas. In Trench 1 a subcircular bowl hearth c. 1m in diameter and a maximum depth of 0.13m was excavated. The hearth had attained a sufficiently high temperature to colour the subsoil. The base fill consisted of a grey ash whilst the upper fill contained heat-cracked stone and charcoal.
The cluster of features in Trench 2 was c. 24m to the south-east of the hearth in Trench 1. The features consisted of two oval pits, one 1.7m by 1.65m by c. 0.3m deep, the second 1.4m by 1.2m and 0.5m deep. These post-date AD 1000–1240 and had been deliberately filled with packed stone, but their purpose is uncertain. Immediately adjacent and slightly cut by these pits was a circular pit. This had a diameter of c. 1.25m and a depth of c. 0.25m, and its fill contained occasional heat-cracked stone and charcoal, making it more likely to be associated with the hearths. This provided a radiocarbon date of AD 1000–1240.
To the south a post-medieval field drain fed into an adjacent stream, and c. 2m further south was a second bowl hearth with a diameter of 1.7m and a depth of 0.3m. The fill contained heat-cracked stone and charcoal giving a radiocarbon date of AD 900–1160.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
