2002:1953 - BALLYNABARNY A, Wicklow

This report concerns the excavation of archaeological remains and deposits in Ballynabarny townland, in areas to be affected by the proposed route of the N11 Road Scheme between Newtownmountkennedy and Ballynabarny.

Testing carried out by Ruth Elliot in October 2001 (Excavations 2001, No. 1331, 01E0968) identified several areas of archaeological potential. These features all lay to the south of the existing route of the N11 and are grouped in this report in three areas, the eastern and western (02E0425) and south-western Areas (02E0609). All areas lay on the north- and north-east-facing slopes of a hill overlooking Rathnew and were contained within boundaries defined on the south by a minor road heading west toward Glenealy from Wicklow and on the north by the N11.

Work in the eastern area involved the excavation and recording of two fulachta fiadh on the highest part of the slope, at 105–110m OD. Both extended beyond the road construction zone, but the southern fulacht fiadh was at least 13m in diameter, and the northern one was at least 10m. The southern fulacht fiadh had one possible trough beneath it, and the northern one had three probable troughs beneath it and another probable trough and a smaller pit immediately beside it. The northern mound partially overlay what appeared to be four agricultural furrows, with possible associated stray ard-marks, running parallel to each other at 1.5–2m intervals down the slope, one of which was cut by one of the troughs. The fulachta fiadh lay 18m apart, and several other, minor archaeological cut features, some containing burnt material, were investigated, all lying within 30m of the mounds. A piece of pottery provisionally dated to the Bronze Age was recovered from one of these outlying features, and this is considered to be the most likely date for the whole group of features, including the burnt mounds.

The western area lay beyond a large pond (investigated under licence 02R081) and a small former stream channel running downslope from it to the north. Various cut features on the upper part of the hill slope and the western slope of the stream channel were investigated, which proved to be of minimal or no archaeological significance, with the exception of a group of up to twelve possible small pits or post-holes, in no obvious pattern, at the top of the slope (107–108m OD), which may have been of prehistoric date.

The main feature of interest in the western area lay c. 60m down the slope at 99–101m OD. This was a medieval ditched enclosure, roughly rectangular with rounded corners, measuring c. 12m by 19m externally. This ditch formed a complete circuit. It had a maximum depth of c. 0.6m but was generally 0.3–0.4m deep, notably shallower on the downslope side (which may have allowed an entrance), and varied from 0.5m to 1m wide but was generally close to 1m. The ditch appeared to have been intended for drainage and a similarly profiled, straight, run-off channel was cut at the south-east corner, running down the slope. In the ditch fills were several patches of very dark, apparently heavily organic material, as well as more sterile backfill deposits. Such deposits were found elsewhere within the enclosure, sometimes in shallow cuts, and may be evidence of features constructed with turf foundations.

The most conspicuous feature in the enclosure was an oval area of very heavily burnt, red, clayey sand that measured 2m by 1.5m, representing a hearth or kiln, with a narrow extension 1m long to one side, possibly representing a flue. This feature was surrounded by shallow occupation spreads with a high ash content, generally thinning away from the ‘hearth’ feature.

The occupation spreads and other enclosure features contained around 2700 sherds of pottery, provisionally dated to the late 13th and early 14th centuries, several metal objects, and several hundred small stones apparently chosen away from the site for their shape and size, Brazil-nut shaped and 10–30mm long, possibly for some industrial purpose connected with pottery production. Obvious structural features such as post-holes were conspicuously absent from the enclosure, although there were two groups of small stake-holes, 60 in total, associated with the hearth. The quantities of pottery suggest that this enclosure may have been the site of a small rural pottery kiln.

Several wide, shallow agricultural furrows of at least medieval and probably later date, cutting the enclosure features, suggest that this part of the site may have been heavily truncated by ploughing.

The south-western area of the site lay c. 250m to the west of the western area in a triangular area measuring c. 70m east–west (along the Wicklow– Glenealy Road) by 130m (along the N11) by 100m (between them). This area sloped down conspicuously to the north at c. 110–102m OD. Features investigated included a large ditch crossing the site, interpreted from finds as a redundant modern field boundary; eleven small, scattered possible pits, of which three were possible post-holes (all near the N11 but unrelated to each other); four possible stake-holes; and eleven features interpreted as geological anomalies, tree-root holes or the result of similar, non-archaeological disturbance. The only other feature of any apparent archaeological significance was a large cut pit measuring 3.2m by 1.7m by 0.25m deep, with a fill of burnt material, including ash and charcoal, in the middle of the slope. No finds were recovered from these features, so they remain undated. Dating of the unstratified finds recovered during testing may suggest that these features indicate peripheral activity associated with the more clearly defined sites to the east and west, provisionally dated to the medieval period and the Bronze Age.

Post-excavation work is continuing.

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