2004:1294 - MUCKERSTOWN/WOTTON, Meath

Excavation of a site comprising two separate areas in the adjacent townlands of Muckerstown and Wotton was carried out between March and May 2004, aspart of the scheme of archaeological mitigation in advance of the N2 Finglas–Ashbourne road realignment (Site 12–13A). The site is located 3.5km south-east of Ashbourne, with two separate areas on either side of the Muckerstown road. The presence of a potential site in the second area had been identified through geophysical survey carried out in 2002. Targeted test excavations were carried out by Stuart Halliday in autumn 2003 in two separate areas (Excavations 2003, Nos 1481 and 1424, 03E1328, 03E1331). These exposed a range of potential medieval features. Resolution excavation was subsequently carried out under an extension to the testing licence. Two separate areas were opened up by machine and excavated by hand.

The first area (Area 12), measuring 35m by 35m, was located 50m east of the Muckerstown road in Wotton townland. The only features exposed consisted of two successive east-west ditch cuts; the only find recovered from within was a single sherd of abraded late medieval pottery from a tertiary fill. The ditches are assumed to be of late medieval or modern origin.

The second area opened (Area 13A) measured 130m north-east/south-west by 45m east-west and was 50m west of the Muckerstown road. A semicircular scarp with an inlaid metalled surface was exposed extending along the eastern edge of excavation for 20m. Medieval pottery and a single plough pebble were recovered from within the surface and the scarp's primary fills. It is assumed that the scarp was the outer perimeter of a medieval yard enclosure attached to a structure or structures to the east, adjacent to the Muckerstown road.

Across the remainder of the site a range of ditch and gully cuts were exposed, the larger ditches appearing to form at least two subrectangular field enclosures with a common western boundary, interpreted as nearfields and garden enclosures attached to a settlement to the east. A gap in this boundary may indicate the location of a lane extending west from the settlement, along the southern side of the yard, across the nearfields.

A concentration of small gully cuts was exposed, contained within one of these field enclosures; significant quantities of medieval pottery were recovered from within, with the fills containing inclusions of charcoal and animal bone. These were assumed to represent either the drainage gullies or bedding trenches of a kitchen garden, with pottery and organic material from the manuring of domestic waste of the settlement to the east.

The yard scarp appears to have been deliberately backfilled. A range of material was recovered from the secondary and tertiary fills: late medieval and early modern pottery, an early medieval ringed pin, three plough pebbles and the bone handle of a knife, all presumably debris from the adjacent settlement. The lane to the south was consolidated in the early modern period, with a drainage culvert, a crude metalled surface and two parallel east-west gullies extending across the site. Martincamp pottery was recovered from the tertiary fills of the yard scarp and North Devon ware was recovered from within the culvert. No structures or settlement are depicted in the immediate vicinity of the site on the Down Survey maps of 1655, Larkin's grand jury map of 1812 or the first-edition OS map of 1837. This is consistent with the artefactual evidence, which suggests that the settlement had passed out of existence by the early 18th century, though some of the larger ditches appeared to have continued in use. It appears likely that structural remains may survive in the area to the east of the site; a raised area of ground is visible abutting the Muckerstown road. The road forms a townland boundary—depicted in its present form on the Down Survey maps—and leads to the village of Donaghmore, which is of early medieval origin.

Nearly 2500 finds were recovered during the course of the excavation, including a flint blade and end scraper, an early medieval ringed pin, over 2000 sherds of late medieval pottery, four plough pebbles, a bone knife handle, three iron blades and five keys of possible late medieval origin, and small quantities of post-medieval pottery. A number of fragments of window lead were also recovered from the topsoil layer. An initial survey of the medieval pottery recovered from the site 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.).

Post-excavation analysis is ongoing.

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