2004:1167 - ASHBOURNE: Killegland, Meath

Monitoring of soil-stripping across the remainder of the Ashbourne town centre development in 2004, under licence 02E0708 ext., revealed three archaeological sites described below. Excavation of these sites took place from August to December 2004 as part of a landscape-based site strategy of archaeological mitigation agreed in consultation with the DoEHLG and following on from earlier excavation of a mill-race earthwork, landscape archaeological survey and topographic survey of the development (Excavations 2003, No. 1346).

Brief historical context
Much of the historical background has been described elsewhere. By the time of the Civil Survey in the mid-17th century, 'the parish and towne of Killiglan', a subdivision of the parish of 'Cookestowne', belonging to the Barony of Ratoath, had been let to Patrick Segrave since at least 1640 (Simington 1940). In 1654–6 there were 'on the premises a castle a stone house with out houses, a church, a Mill and divers Cabbins' (ibid.). In 2004, a cluster of the 'diverse cabins' were found and excavated (licence 04E1213, below).

Excavation 04E1252
Excavation in advance of development discovered a small, partially enclosed medieval settlement site immediately upslope of a medieval mill-race earthwork and three associated small, banked 'ponds' or 'fields' that were once fed by the mill-race and emptied into the nearby Broadmeadow River. Prior to excavation, it was thought that the site was a likely candidate for the medieval mill of Killegland identified in historical records, but this mill site does not now appear to lie within the bounds of the present development. The site is in the vicinity of the recently discovered late medieval/early post-medieval hamlet of Killegland, some 70m distant (licence 04E1213, see below) and c. 100m away from the 15th-century Killegland Castle site across the river (SMR 45:5). The settlement site, probably occupied from the late 12th–14th centuries, was roughly square in plan, 20m long, demarcated on its western and northern sides by backfilled 'soakaway' drains, which were metalled over with small stones to serve as pathways, and by the mill-race on its southern side. Habitation of the site occurred in two separate consecutive phases, with little surviving of two or possibly three buildings from the first phase (Structure 1, early Structure 3, possible early Structure 2). The second, main phase focused on a central, north-south-orientated, subrectangular house (5.5m by 11m2; Structure 3) of non-earthfast dry-stone foundations, clay walls and, probably, a thatched roof. Two other structures, one reused from the earlier occupation (Structure 1) and one built slightly later over the top of the northern 'soakaway' (Structure 2), were of similar vernacular builds. The site was abandoned in the 14th or 15th century and was later robbed of stone and covered over with hand-dug cultivation drills ('lazy beds') at the end of the 17th century. These lazy beds are contemporary with the occupation of the hamlet of Killegland nearby (see below). Animal bone, over 30 metal artefacts and c. 600 sherds of pottery were recovered during the excavation, including a near-complete example of a North Leinster cooking ware jar. The results of radiocarbon dates, to complement the artefactual dates for medieval occupation, are not yet available.

Excavation 04E1213
Excavation also discovered the remains of six to seven drystone-foundation buildings that correspond to the 'cabins' described in the Civil Survey: part of the village, or hamlet, of Killegland. They lay along the mill-race, on the north side of the Broadmeadow River, and immediately upslope from three deep ponds that may be medieval in origin. In the last century, the ponds had been used for flood management and were evidently deepened with a mechanical digger, probably at the same time that the river was dredged, such that they contained only disappointingly modern deposits. The ponds are nevertheless represented on early 19th-century maps. Their extent corresponds precisely to the 65m length of the hamlet just upslope and their north banks possess the same rough metalling characteristic of the mill-race bank nearby, so it seems reasonable to believe that their original shape in plan has not been significantly altered. Nearby excavation of a metalled ford across the Broadmeadow River (Finola O'Carroll, pers. comm.), on an adjacent development, accords well with the levels of the settlement and ponds. All taken together they suggest a historical seasonal high floodwater mark of 62.6–62.8m OD (prior to the modern dredging of the river channel).

The excavation was limited in scope due to the unusual design of the retail store and carpark to be built on the riverside hillslope: the ground was raised by up to 4m and the new building was redesigned with a low-impact piled foundation. Apart from limited excavation concentrated in the footprint of the new retail store, most of the site was preserved in situ.

The six rectangular/trapezoidal buildings and their environs that made up the archaeological site appear to have been contemporary with each other: they were certainly occupied through the 17th century (and were abandoned c. 1700), but the occupation for Buildings 2–6 seems likely to have extended back into the 16th century, possibly earlier. In the absence of precise late-medieval/early post-medieval pottery, or other artefactual material which would date the assemblage recovered, samples were taken for radiocarbon dating, but the results of this analysis are not yet available.

Building 1 is slightly different from the other structures and appears to have been older; possibly it was originally built at the same time as the 15th-century Killegland Castle across the river. It is orientated across the south- and downsloping hillside, with a kerbed cobblestone east-west yard/path below it, a central southern threshold that leads to a passageway that appears to have separated domestic quarters (west, Building 1A) from a byre (east, Building 1B) and that measures 14.9m by 6.4m. Building 2 is the only structure on the upslope of the mill-race and is L-shaped. Its main extent measures 4.3m by 6m, with a possible central threshold in its long east wall and a perpendicular 3.25m by 6.65m gable extension downslope, of less substantial build. The main extent also has offshoots/sheds on each long side and evidence for a central fire just south of its centre. Building 3 was heavily robbed out and measures 5.8m by at least 4m. Building 4 measures 5.8m by 6.35m, with a central threshold in its long western wall. Much of its interior is cobbled and partly divided into thirds by drystone interior wall foundations, and two kerbed cobble terraces extend downslope from the structure. Building 5 survives less well than other structures; it may measure c. 5.4m by 7.3m, with a cobbled area downslope. Building 6 survives only as incomplete remnant wall foundations; it appears to have been reused as a corn-drying kiln.

All of the structures were of drystone/stone and clay foundations, with clay upper walls and, probably, thatched roofs. They strongly resemble surviving later vernacular cottages in County Meath and, in contrast to the less-regular, earlier structures on the nearby medieval farm (see 04E1252 above), they appear to have been built with nails, iron staples, etc., rather than using wood joinery techniques. Several probably had lockable doors. All appear to have served as dwellings, except Building 4, where the internal layout (that suggests the structure may have served as a byre) contradicts that structure's domestic finds and complicates an understanding of its use. Dumps of iron-smelting and smithing waste indicate that the settlement extended further west, beyond the bounds of the development site and beneath the neighbouring bungalow garden, where there must have been a metalworking furnace. Preliminary results from post-excavation analyses also suggest that the settlement was probably in the vicinity of a (the enigmatic reused medieval?) mill, which must therefore have also lain futher west, beneath the adjacent property. Post-excavation analyses are also beginning to provide a detailed picture of 'food ways' that is in accordance with broad understandings of the diet of the rural 'lower orders' in the 17th century. Artefacts include a number of agricultural implements and evidence for weaving, sewing and, perhaps, basketmaking.

Two large fields upslope from the settlement that once extended beyond the bounds of the site (where a housing estate now exists) had lynchets at their downslope edges, suggesting that they were ploughed, but furrows cut into the subsoil did not survive well enough to be diagnostic of either plough drills or hand-dug lazy beds, although the fields do appear to have been manured during the era of the settlement occupation. Other surveys, geophysics and excavation indicate that lazy beds contemporary with the settlement stretched along both nearby, moderately inclined, slopes of the Broadmeadow River valley. Upslope from Building 1, at the edge of the aforementioned field lynchet, a rough keyhole-shaped furnace may have served as a corn-drying kiln.

Excavation 02E0708 ext.
Excavations within the c. 40m by 20m footprint of a playground to be located in the park on the south side of the Broadmeadow River uncovered a shallow ring-ditch, 10.2m in external diameter, with a ditch that measured 1.9m by 0.53m deep (max. dimensions). Several pits were located within the ring-ditch, including a fire pit and a small metalworking bowl furnace (possibly for copper; the results of the slag analysis are not yet available). Nearby, a single cremation burial was found (the results of analysis are also not yet available). An east-west line of three very shallow charcoal-filled pits at 5–6m intervals seems to date from a 17th-century period of overlying lazy beds and later post-medieval plough cultivation, although radiocarbon dates are still pending, so dating for the early features is provisional. A redesign of the already low-impact playground meant that excavation was limited in scope, with most of the archaeology preserved in situ, but c. 30 lithics were recovered and a single sherd of Middle Bronze Age pottery came from the ring-ditch fill.

References
Simington, R.C. ed. 1940 The Civil Survey AD 1654–56: County Meath, Vol. V, with Returns of Tithes for the Meath Baronies. Dublin.

27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2