2002:0635 - NEWCASTLE LYONS NORTH, Dublin

Newcastle Lyons is considered to be an exceptionally well-preserved medieval manorial settlement. Testing was carried out on a proposed development site to the north of the town to establish the nature and origin of anomalies at the site noted in a geophysical survey carried out by John Nicholls of Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd. The combination of the archaeological and geophysical work identified new enclosures, burgage plots and the likely alignment of the borough boundary.

The excavation investigated an east–west ditch. This feature was interpreted as the borough boundary extending from the known alignment to the east. The boundary was revealed by the geophysics, and test excavation confirmed the archaeological nature of the feature. The ditch was filled with compact clays containing butchered animal bone; it was 1.5m wide at the top, c. 0.5m wide at the base and 1m deep. The domed remains of an internal earthen bank, 2.2m wide and 0.35m deep, were revealed immediately inside (to the south of) the ditch. The ditch was clearly identified on the geophysical survey and continued west, where it appeared to veer north and was revealed in a further test-trench, where it was 2.3m wide and was 0.8m deep; however, the inundation of water made the excavation and recording of the ditch very problematic. The absence of an internal bank in the western trench raises questions about the relationship between it and the ditch identified to the east. However, on the current evidence, the borough boundary appears to run along the axis of the strong geophysical trend. Further excavation (that goes beyond the scope of the current brief) is required to establish the definite alignment, growth and development of the medieval borough boundary in the site.

Further test-trenches were aligned across the burgage plots that terminated to the north along the borough boundary. The burgage plots were identified as linear north–south trends during the gradiometer survey. The excavation identified and confirmed the result of the geophysics and indicated the presence of small linear ditches defining the medieval burgage plots. No direct settlement remains (house structures or working areas) were identified during excavation, although it can be assumed that the bulk of these remains would be situated along the medieval street front to the south and beyond the development area.

The oval enclosure identified by the geophysical survey at the north-eastern end of the development can be interpreted in a number of ways. It is clearly archaeological, but it may pre-date or be contemporaneous with the medieval village. The enclosure is 35–40m in diameter and appears to have an entrance on its eastern side. No excavation was conducted on the enclosure.

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