2002:0462 - BALLYMOUNT, Ballymount Great, Dublin

Further excavations were carried out at Ballymount Great, Co. Dublin, as a result of final modifications of the detail of the proposed Luas line. Previous excavations had been carried out at the site by Geraldine Stout in 1982, Malachy Conway in 1997 (Excavations 1997, No. 79, 97E0316) and John Ó Néill in 2000 (Excavations 2000, No. 205, 00E0538). These had examined the eastern part of a large ditched enclosure that was threatened by the proposed Luas line. Excavation had demonstrated that a bank with internal ditch was present, enclosing a stepped mound. Finds of 10th–13th-century date had been retrieved from the upper fills but no indicator of the construction date other than the presence of ferrous material near the base. The 2002 excavations took place because of the problem of accommodating a course for an existing stream. This led to the excavation of an area measuring c. 40m by 15m adjoining the previously excavated sections.

A range of features identified during the excavation have been assigned a general date on the basis of their relationship with the enclosure.

Pre-enclosure activity
Two areas of activity pre-dated the enclosure of the site: a burnt mound at the northern end of the site and a ditch at the southern end. In the northernmost area that was excavated, a pit and a small spread of heat-shattered stone and charcoal were uncovered and appear to have been sealed by a layer of iron pan. This iron pan seems to coincide with the location of an outer bank noted in the previous excavations. Determination of the exact relationship will rest on the radiocarbon dating of materials from both the burnt mound and the enclosure ditch. At the southern end of the site, part of the arc of a ditch (F1031) was truncated by a series of features, including an extension of the main enclosure ditch. The excavated section traced an arc measuring c. 8.68m (internally), with a depth of 0.7m. If this represents a larger feature, it suggests a circular enclosure of c. 27.5m internal diameter (c. 31.3m external diameter). Without supporting data, this is a fairly tentative hypothesis, although burnt bone was recovered from the basal fill, suggesting that this ditch may be part of a ring-barrow.

The main enclosure ditch (F1002)
Excavation of the main enclosure ditch demonstrated the existence of a medieval recutting of this feature. The basal fill of the ditch was a sedimentised peat with a high content of visible organic remains, including twigs, seeds, sedges, rushes, leaf litter, insects and other decaying detritus. This fill was present to a depth of c. 0.3m. The recorded fills, although waterlogged, are paralleled by the dry fills encountered in the previous excavations to the south-east. The upper fills of the main enclosure ditch were truncated by a later recut, and only this later ditch could be traced extending into the area excavated in previous campaigns.

A further ditch adjoined the main enclosure ditch; this was found to contain the same upper fill and is considered to have been open for at least part of the time that the main ditch was open. This suggests that there may have been an entrance here, breaking the ditch on the axis of a pool (indicated on the first- and second-edition OS maps) and the mound. On the basis of the morphology of the enclosure (inner ditch, outer bank), this phase is tentatively dated to the Iron Age.

Ditch F1010 and the recut of the main enclosure ditch
When the main enclosure ditch had become silted up, a further ditch was opened across the northern part of the site (F1010). This was cut by a medieval recut of the main enclosure ditch, at a time when F1010 had fully silted up. No relationship was clearly established with the original enclosure ditch, although it is assumed that it pre-dates F1010. An 11th-century ringed pin from the fill of this feature supports this hypothesis.

A number of definite medieval features were identified across the site. The recut of the main ditch occurred when the ditch had fully silted up. In section, the ditch was V-shaped, with sharply sloping sides, particularly at the top, and a 1m-wide base. The ditch was a maximum of 1.95m deep. An 11m-long part of the ditch was fully excavated. The upper fills of the recut ditch contained Dublin-type wares.

A further linear feature at the southern end of the site post-dated the main enclosure ditch. This is probably medieval, as were a number of pits that produced sherds of Dublin-type wares. A collapsed lintel drain was identified as crossing the site. This feature may be late medieval, as a sherd of medieval pottery was retrieved from its fill, but no later artefacts were present.

A number of post-medieval and early modern features were identified on the site, including a series of furrows identified by geophysics and depicted on Beranger’s late 18th-century watercolour of the mound.

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