County: Dublin Site name: CLONDALKIN: Brookfield House, Ninth Lock Road
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 17:41–2 Licence number: 02E0438
Author: Donal Fallon, Cultural Resource Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Enclosure and Cultivation ridges
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 706960m, N 731677m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.324536, -6.394432
A number of agricultural features of later medieval date were exposed during pre-development testing at this site in March 2002 (see No. 497, Excavations 2002, 02E0363). The features were excavated and resolved over four weeks between 20 April and 22 May 2002.
The site is on the northern bank of the Camac River, close to the early medieval monastic enclosure of Clondalkin. At least two phases of cultivation and enclosure in the later medieval period were present. The first phase of activity was represented by a largely erased bank and double ditch (22m long, 2.4m wide, 0.4m deep) and a number of parallel cultivation furrows aligned north–south. The second phase of activity was represented by a more substantial ditch (23m long, 2–4m wide, 1m deep) and a smaller number of associated furrows aligned east–west. The features were truncated to the north and west by later disturbance.
A total of 226 sherds of medieval pottery were recovered from within these features. No diagnostic imported wares were found; most of the sherds appear to represent locally produced domestic wares of later medieval date, including a number of sherds of Leinster cooking ware of 13th–14th-century date. The bulk of the pottery came from within the later ditch, which contained a number of sherds with fabric and glaze suggesting a late medieval date.
The features exposed are consistent with the cartographic and historical evidence. The earlier phase of cultivation may be associated by orientation with medieval strip cultivation within a large open-field unit; the remains of this larger unit are visible on an estate map of 1702 (Aalen and Whelan 1997, 137). The later phase appears to represent enclosure toward the end of the medieval period. This transition may be placed in the context of the general decline of communal agriculture during this period.
Reference
Aalen, F.H.A. and Whelan, K. 1997 Atlas of the Irish rural landscape. Cork.
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