2004:1238 - FLEENSTOWN LITTLE, Meath

This excavation was undertaken as part of the archaeological mitigation in advance of the N2 Finglas–Ashbourne road scheme (Appendix II). Pre-development test-trenching was carried out under this licence by David Bonner in 2003. This identified a probable ditch, east of the main route of the development, on the line of a side road that will be used for access to agricultural land. The licence was transferred to the writer in February 2004.

The site (Site 16) was located at the western edge of a large enclosure identified in an EIS, which lay outside the development footprint. The excavated deposits consisted of a 12m-long section of ditch parallel to the bank or scarp of the enclosure. The ditch was linear and aligned north-east/south-west. It was 2.75m wide and steep-sided; it was cut to a depth of 1.13m and had a flat bottom averaging 0.9m in width. Two 2m-long trenches were excavated through the ditch revealing a number of sterile fills. The basal and side fills were dark and humic in nature and examination of the sides of an adjacent canalised stream identified similar deposits. This suggests that the deposits in the excavated sections had built up during its use as a functioning ditch. The later fills of the ditch were notably sterile and at least two fills of redeposited subsoil were recorded. The final fill of the ditch was also redeposited subsoil and with a depth of 0.58m appeared to represent a deliberate infilling of the feature, rendering it obsolete. The material exposed upslope and to the east of the ditch was very similar in composition and the two may represent a levelling episode that was intended to close up the ditch and possibly reclaim the land it occupied.

Due to the limits of the excavation as defined by the development footprint, an association between the ditch and the enclosure was not ascertained. The enclosure is c. 250m in length and, should the ditch be a contemporary feature, its size suggests that its role was not defensive. The fills within the ditch were extremely sterile in nature and contained no charcoal, bone or any domestic-type refuse or artefacts typical of settlement or industrial activity. The alluvial character of the fills suggest that it functioned as a drain and it may be that the cutting of the ditch significantly post-dated the enclosure but respected the earlier monument.

All of the artefacts retrieved during the excavation were found either within topsoil or from the levelling episode. These included a sherd of Leinster cooking ware and two small sherds of pottery of a probable 12th-century date. Six pieces of flint—three flakes, two scrapers and a modified chunk—were also recovered. In addition, a corroded fragment of an iron nail, a small piece of slag, a clay-pipe stem and a piece each of quartz and chert were found. Given the recovery of all these artefacts from within topsoil or late deposits, none can be used to definitively date either the ditch or the adjacent enclosure. They do, however, point to activity in the area during both the Bronze Age and the medieval period.

Department of Archaeology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4