2004:1789 - BALLYGERRY, Wexford

Topsoil-stripping for a proposed wastewater treatment plant and access road was monitored in advance of building works for the plant. Archaeological features were identified at the interface of the disturbed ploughsoil and the natural (see No. 1788 above). These isolated features were excavated. Some of the features had been disturbed by very extensive ploughing and a railway line.

An area measuring 20m by 8m was stripped of topsoil and investigated. Within this area there were isolated archaeological features. They were sited on a slightly elevated subrectangular area. Topsoil comprised a dark-brown friable sandy silty clay with occasional small irregular pieces of stone. It had an average thickness of 0.25m and overlaid a very compact, high-silicate sandy clay with occasional small to medium stones. Potato roots were identified within this deposit, which was totally homogenous and very well mixed, due to extensive ploughing activity. Underlying the clay was a thin lens of dark-brown slightly silty sandy redeposited natural. Once the topsoil had been removed, it was very noticeable that this area had been subject to comprehensive agricultural activity. The features uncovered included a large linear ditch that was aligned north-south. It commenced at the railway line boundary and terminated at a junction with a secondary linear feature on a north-west/south-east alignment. This feature was immediately below the layer of redeposited natural that overlay this part of the site and cut into the natural clay. Its sides were straight and vertical, with a single fill of loamy, silty, slightly sandy clay. The secondary linear feature was also cut from the same horizon and was of similar construction and fill. It comprised straight sides and pronounced edges, clearly suggesting that it had been machine cut.

At the eastern base of the elevated area an ephemeral, slightly curvilinear feature extended from the railway boundary on a roughly north-south alignment. It measured 5.65m long and 1.2m and 0.48m deep. It was initially discovered through texture, as its fill was very slightly looser than the surrounding natural, and the fact that the eastern and western sides were more prominent than the surrounding soil. It had straight, almost vertical sides and had two fills; the upper fill was an orange/brown very sandy clay with a high silt content and occasional charcoal flecks and the lower fill (0.12m thick) was of dark-blue (black) very sandy silt bonding a layer of rounded small to medium stones. This fill suggested that this feature had being used for drainage purposes. A sherd of coil-made pot was located in close proximity to its eastern side.

A feature measuring 2.85m (east-west) by 0.71m and 0.16m deep was excavated close to the above curvilinear feature. Its fill comprised a mottled orange/brown sandy silty clay. It contained a high charcoal content, frequent small stone and burnt stone. There was evidence for intense burning at the base of the feature and the evidence suggested that it was burning in situ. Charcoal - a piece of oak - was removed for radiocarbon dating.

Other features excavated proved to be the residual remains of truncated furrows, potato drills and the remains of clamps.

Twenty-eight sherds of pottery were uncovered. None were within context; they were contained by the upper surface of the undisturbed ground. The pottery assemblage has proved very difficult to identify. Specialist analysis (four experts) has failed to conclusively identify it. While the sherds shared some similarities with the pottery tradition of souterrain ware, it was not possible to be categorical (S. Zajac, pers. comm.). The pottery appears to fall into the early medieval period. Other periods, such as the medieval and post-medieval period, have been ruled out as a date for this pottery.