2004:1178 - BALTRASNA, Meath

Excavation of a site in Baltrasna townland was carried out between January and March 2004 as part of the scheme of archaeological mitigation in advance of the N2 Finglas-Ashbourne road realignment (Site 17-18). The site is located on a north-facing slope with the Broadmeadow River extending along its base. The presence of a potential site had been identified through geophysical prospection carried out by GSB in 2002, which identified a number of anomalies. Targeted test excavations were carried out in autumn 2003, in two separate areas, by Stuart Halliday (Excavations 2003, Nos 1361 and 1362, 03E1354, 03E1314). These exposed features were suggestive of a medieval settlement, with some evidence for continuity into the modern period. Resolution excavation was subsequently carried out under an extension to the testing licence (03E1354 ext.). Two separate areas were opened up by machine and excavated by hand.

The first area (Area 17), c. 110m by 40m, was located c. 50m to the north of a farm settlement depicted on the first-edition OS map. A second smaller area, 80m by 35m, was opened 100m to the west (Area 18).

Prehistoric
The earliest features reliably dated consisted of a large irregular pit (8.5m in diameter, 1.5m deep) with two small shallow abutting pits (2.5m by 4.4m by 1.4m deep; 1.3m by 0.8m by 0.3m deep). Three sherds of Bronze Age pottery were recovered from the smallest of the three in a fill consisting of burnt stone and charcoal; a charcoal sample yielded a conventional date of 2900+/-47 BP (Wk-16286). The largest pit may have functioned as a waterhole; a large post-hole had been cut into the sloping face, suggesting a structure for access. The fills were suggestive of natural silting and small amounts of charcoal and animal bone were recovered from within. A charcoal sample from a primary fill yielded an AMS date of 2288+/-35 BP (Wk-16287). No diagnostic finds were recovered from the third pit. Uncontexted prehistoric finds recovered during the excavation included a thumbnail scraper, two end scrapers and the bedstone of a saddle quern.

Late medieval
Two perpendicular linear ditches extended across Area 17. The fills yielded pottery of 13th-14th-century date and a fragment of a rotary quern. A silver halfpenny of Edward I, dating from 1280 to 1283, was also recovered during the initial cleanback. This field enclosure appears to have passed out of use before the middle of the 14th century. A substantial pit (c. 6.5m diam. by 1.74m deep) exposed close to the southern boundary of the site cut through the silted remains of one of the ditches. A single-piece wooden vessel, three wooden stakes and a sawn fragment of tree trunk were recovered from within the pit's primary fills, suggesting an internal structure; an AMS date of 663+/-36 BP (Wk16287) was obtained for the vessel. Butchered animal bone and medieval pottery were recovered from secondary and tertiary fills. A similar feature of medieval date excavated at Wharram Percy was interpreted as a cold-storage pit for meat and dairy produce, with a suggested wooden structure for access (Stamper and Croft 2000, 38-43).

Two further substantial medieval pits were exposed a short distance to the west (3.5m by 6m by 1.9m deep; 2.1m by 9m by 0.94m deep), close to the southern boundary of the area; both contained fills rich in organic material, with animal bone and medieval pottery recovered from within. No clear structural evidence was exposed within this area. The features described are assumed to represent the outer elements of a medieval farm settlement immediately to the south of the site.

A second area was opened c. 100m to the west (Area 18). Three very disturbed deposits of stone were exposed, with over 500 sherds of medieval pottery recovered from within. No clear structural form was evident, but the stone deposits could have been the remnants of a crude medieval structure, possibly the footings of a clay-walled building. A land unit, within which this possible structure is located, can be traced from a reference in the Chancery Inquisitions in 1633 to '1 gardin & 20 acr' arrabil in Ballytreston' (Tresham 1829; Meath, Chas. I, 88) and to its cartographic depiction in the maps accompanying the Primary Valuations of 1854 (Griffith 1854, 60). The valuations maps depict a rectangular enclosure forming part of the boundary between two holdings, within which the structure was located. Part of the enclosure was exposed as an erased hedge crossing the area of excavation. This may represent the 'gardin' mentioned in the 1633 inquisition.

Over 700 sherds of medieval pottery were recovered during the excavation; an initial survey of the pottery has identified wheel-thrown glazed and fine-glazed wares: Dublin-type (13th-century) and Dublin-type fineware (later 13th to early-mid-14th-century), with small quantities of Dublin-type cooking ware and a larger proportion of Leinster cooking ware (Clare McCutcheon, pers. comm.).

Early modern
A number of substantial ditch cuts, of apparent late 17th- or early 18th-century origin, were exposed extending east-west and north-south across Area 17, forming a system of three adjoining field enclosures, each c. 25m wide, extending to the south beyond the limit of excavation and sharing a common northern boundary. These were assumed to be nearfields or haggards associated with the farmstead depicted on the first-edition OS map, with some evidence for continuity from the earlier medieval field enclosure. A metalled surface formed a laneway extending north-south across the enclosures, presumably a contemporary feature providing access from the farmstead to larger fields to the north. Sherds of North Devon sgraffito and North Devon gravel-tempered ware were found in the silt layers sealing the surface, suggesting that both the lane and the associated enclosures were of, at latest, early modern origin, with possible continuity from the late medieval farming settlement. The leasehold unit associated with the farmstead on the OS maps can be traced, unchanged in extent and in the ownership of the same family, from a deed of 1711 (Registry of Deeds, Deed No. 10212), to the Primary Valuations of 1854 (Griffith 1854, 60).

Discussion
All lands within the townland are listed in the ownership of the Berford family of Kilrue in the Civil Survey of 1654-6 (Simington 1940, 102). Possessions of the family in Baltrasna are referred to in a deed of 1549 (Curtis 1941, 42-3) and a will of 1605 (NA Reference RC 5/9/3/202). The Berfords owned a range of lands within the parish of Ratoath from at least the early 14th century (Orpen 1921, 73-4) and appear to have been resident in Kilrue from at least the early 15th century (D'Alton 1855, 468). Kilrue is an adjacent townland; the Civil Survey of 1654-6 lists the elements of a manorial centre in Kilrue, owned by the Berfords (Simington 1940, 102). It is suggested that the limited remains exposed may represent two separate tenant farmsteads or dwellings, within an Anglo-Norman manor, away from the manorial centre, with the extent of their attached holdings possibly represented by the leasehold units referred to in the post-medieval sources. The farmstead depicted on the OS maps may have evolved from a medieval settlement.

Post-excavation analysis is ongoing.

References
Curtis, E. 1941 Calendar of Ormond deeds, Vol V. Dublin.
D'Alton. 1855 Illustrations, historical and genealogical of King James's Irish Army list (1689). Dublin.
Griffith, R. 1854 Union of Dunshaughlin: valuation of the several tenements comprised in that portion of the above-named Union situate in the County of Meath. Dublin.
Orpen, G.H. 1921 The Earldom of Ulster, Part V: inquisitions touching Ratoath in Co. Meath. JRSAI X, 68-76.
Simington, R.C. 1940 The Civil Survey AD 1654-56: County Meath, Vol. V. Dublin.
Stamper, P.A. and Croft, R.A. 2000 Wharram: a study of settlement on the Yorkshire wolds, VIII, the South Manor area. York.
Tresham. 1829 Inquisitionum in officio rotulorum cancellari¾ Hiberni¾ asservatarum, repertorium. Ireland, Chancery.