County: Meath Site name: KELLS: Headfort Place
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1899
Author: Carmel Duffy
Site type: Pit and Well
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 674435m, N 775817m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.726701, -6.872048
The site was previously tested by Rosanne Meenan (Excavations 2001, No. 984, 01E0819). The testing found two medieval features, which were resolved under this licence.
F2, Trench 2, was a small pit-like feature, 0.4m in diameter and 0.15m deep. The fill was a dark-brown to black organic silty clay, similar to F4 (below). It contained seventeen sherds of medieval pottery and had a gentle U-shaped profile. It was either a hollow in the subsoil in which medieval material collected, or the truncated bottom of a larger feature.
F3, Trench 3, was 1.2m in diameter and roughly circular in plan. It was cut into the natural subsoil and sloped gently on the southern side, while it was steep on the north. It had two fills. The upper of these, F4, was 0.3m deep and consisted of dark-brown/black organic silty clay with numerous fragments of animal bone, four sherds of glazed local medieval pottery and one sherd of Leinster cookware. The lower fill, F5, was 0.45m of grey silty clay containing six pieces of animal bone, one piece of burnt bone and two sherds of medieval pottery. The bottom of the feature was comprised of angular stones, c. 0.25m long, and water came up in it. It appeared to be a well which was open in medieval times.
Umberstown Great, Summerhill, Co. Meath
