County: Meath Site name: ARDBRACCAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E0584
Author: Neil Fairburn, Cocyn Uchaf, Moelfre, Anglesey, Wales LL72 8LL, for ACS Ltd.
Site type: Burnt mounds, circular enclosure and pits
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 682203m, N 767849m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.653946, -6.756472
Testing took place along Testing Area 11 of the Navan bypass section (Contract 3) of the planned M3 Clonee-North of Kells road scheme, Co. Meath. The work was carried out for N3 Meath Consult on behalf of Meath County Council and the National Roads Authority. The testing methodology generally consisted of mechanically excavating 2m-wide trenches along the centre-line and perpendicular to the centre-line to the edge of the land-take every 20m. Three sites in the form of two burnt mounds, a circular enclosure and two circular pits, designated Ardbraccan 1, Ardbraccan 2 and Ardbraccan 3, were uncovered.
Ardbraccan 1 consisted of a burnt mound c. 8m in diameter and 0.2m deep and three circular pits 0.6m, 0.61m and 1.1m in diameter, which were filled with charcoal and burnt stone. An isolated charcoal-rich pit was also located in an adjacent field. No other features were exposed in the vicinity.
Ardbraccan 2 consisted of a burnt mound c. 8m in diameter, a possible trough, two probable modern linear ditches and an undated circular enclosure. The burnt mound was sectioned across its width and showed that it had a mixed fill of silty clay, charcoal and heat-shattered stone to a depth of c. 0.3m. The section appears to show that the burnt stone may have been deposited at different times, as there are distinct deposits.
One rectangular pit was positioned close to the edge of the burnt mound and may be a trough. It measured 1.65m by 1.15m and had a depth of c. 0.3m. It had a mixed fill of silty clay and charcoal.
The undated circular enclosure, c. 30m in diameter, c. 2.5m wide and c. 1.1m deep, had cut through the edge of the burnt mound and is clearly a later feature. The main fill of the enclosure ditch was a heavily laminated silty clay and this would strongly indicate that the ditch contained standing water during the formation process of the ditch fill.
Ardbraccan 3 consisted of two large subcircular pits, both 1.5m in diameter and 0.3m deep, and a curving spread of burnt stone. No other features were exposed in the vicinity.
