County: Meath Site name: ARDNAMULLAN (1)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0114
Author: Stephen J. Linnane, ACS Ltd.
Site type: Charcoal-making site
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 662054m, N 744566m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.447517, -7.065839
During test-trenching before the construction of the M4 Kinnegad–Enfield–Kilcock motorway, features of archaeological potential were observed, and subsequently full resolution of them was undertaken by stripping turf and topsoil from the immediate area within the road-take. In this excavation four features proved to be of interest; two were rectangular pits with shallowly sloping sides and oxidised bases and sides caused by high heat. The fills contained significant quantities of charcoal, and, by analogy with other features excavated on this project, it has been suggested that these may be charcoal-producing kilns. Two subcircular bowl-shaped pits were not kilns but may have been associated with some part of the industrial process. Among the uses for charcoal is in the smelting of iron ore, and bowl kilns and iron slag were present on similar sites in the vicinity.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
