2002:0619 - LAUGHANSTOWN (Site 78), Dublin

This site was excavated before the rerouting of a water main required by the construction of the South-Eastern Motorway. It lay between two fields sown with crops. This site was monitored under licence 00E0880 ext. as it was in an area of Laughanstown adjacent to a disused routeway linking Carrickmines with Heronford Lane that has its origins in the medieval period. It may also have been the temporary camping ground of the retreating Jacobite army.

The site lies near a number of sites excavated on the South-Eastern Motorway in Carrickmines Great: Sites 56, 79 and 75, burnt mounds excavated by Fiona Reilly and Gary Conboy; Sites 59–62, a collection of rectangular and circular structures and pits excavated by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil; and Site 63, a significant Early Bronze Age flint-knapping site excavated by Gary Conboy. All of the sites were on the edge of a large marshy basin that runs down to the Shanganagh River and marks the end of the rocky upland. This area was known in recent times as Tracy’s Bog.

The site consisted of three areas, 1–3. All were cut by interconnecting stone-lined drains that are probably post-medieval. Later, deep, French drains filled with stones were dug, cutting the site and running from south-east to north-west. Two types of plough furrows were also excavated. The first ran from south-east to north-west and were evenly spaced. They were 0.4–0.6m wide and 0.07m deep. They were associated with a George III penny coin of 1797. Areas 1 and 2 were separated from Area 3 by a field boundary ditch with a stone-lined drain in its base. This boundary post-dates the plough furrows, which continue across it. Other narrow cultivation features were detected intermittently in all areas and post-dated the first-mentioned furrows.

Area 1 sloped down from west to east. The eastern end had archaeological deposits and boulder clay at a relatively shallow depth under ploughsoil, which was 0.3m deep. This included a spread of dark silty sand measuring 3m by 3m and up to 0.25m deep. It was surrounded by a thin silt deposit on the southern and western sides. Both deposits yielded significant quantities of split flint pebbles, debitage, round scrapers, Beaker pottery and Cordoned Urn sherds. Five deep stake-holes were present, but it was unclear whether they were associated with this phase or with the subsequent burnt mounds. A wide, post-medieval, stone-lined, drain cut the area. An unaccompanied cremation with charcoal was found 3m to the south-east in a small, circular pit; it was 0.44m in diameter and 0.25m deep.

A rectangular trough measuring 1.7m by 1.1m by 0.4m deep was excavated in this area. It was filled with burnt stone and had two post-holes at one end. It was cut between this higher area and the silt deposits to the west. To the west a considerable area of burnt stone and blackened soil was uncovered. In order to reveal the full extent of this, up to 1m of silt had to be removed (deepening in increments to the west). It was clear that the burnt mound had been damaged by the water action that had created the silts. The silts also sealed a very large, subrectangular cut (5m by 3m by 1.5m deep) and a further, smaller, subrectangular cut c. 3.7m to the south (2.6m by 1.3m by 0.68m deep). The smaller cut contained a number of sherds of vase food vessel. Both were filled with a combination of silts and marls. The upper fills of both contained burnt stones, suggesting that they were open but heavily silted as the burnt-mound material was being eroded and washed in, either during or after the use of the burnt mound. They both filled naturally with water and therefore are deeper than the current water table. They are being interpreted, at present, as waterholes. Animal teeth were found in the silt fills.

Near the large waterhole, a scatter of c. 100 potsherds, representing a bucket-shaped Middle– Late Bronze Age smashed pot, was found on the compacted silt and gravels through which the waterhole was cut. A number of tree bowls were found at this level, suggesting tree growth at some time before silting. A cup-marked stone was also found in this area. The silts and archaeological deposits continued beyond the western edge of the area delimited for the water-main construction.

Area 2 was artificially divided from Area 1 to the south by a modern fence-line. Once again the silts had to be excavated. The latest artefacts within the upper silt deposits were medieval pottery and a club-headed copper-alloy stick-pin. This is significant, given the proximity of the site to the current castle site at Lehaunstown Park House to the north-east. The lower silt deposits contained no medieval material and only sparse prehistoric artefacts and sheep and cattle teeth. Removal of the silts revealed a further spread of burnt stone material and a damaged, stone-built, rectangular trough measuring 3.75m by 1.4m by 0.2m deep. It was constructed from one course of squared, granite stones (some of which were quarried) laid on edge. This trough was in the same position as the rectangular (probably wood-lined) trough in Area 1 (between the higher, natural boulder clay and the silts). Some larger mammal bone was found in the fill, and a flat granite burnishing stone was found nearby, along with some coarse Bronze Age pottery.

Area 3 was to the north-west of Areas 1 and 2. The area of the burnt mound, which measured at least 20m by 20m, caused discoloration of the crops before excavation and continued beyond the western limit of the site. The natural deposits here had changed from silty, orange/brown clays with decayed limestone to silt deposits that did not retain water. The burnt spread was up to 0.3m thick, and two underlying circular troughs measured 1.9m and 1.64 in diameter and were 0.59m deep. One of these cut the other. To the east a further large waterhole was excavated, measuring 3.5m north–south by 3.25m; it was 0.8m deep and was associated with a flint slug knife. It did not contain any burnt stone. A number of stake-holes representing a fence-line and an oval pit surrounded by stake-holes and measuring 1.19m by 1.07m and 0.23m deep were also revealed. A four-poster structure measuring 2m by 1m was found in the north-east of the area. A number of other shallow oval pits were also found. Artefacts were few in this area but included a small assemblage of flint scrapers.

Brehon House, Kilkenny Road, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny