2004:1813 - MONEYTUCKER, Wexford

Excavation was undertaken at Site 1, Moneytucker, as part of the archaeological programme for the N30 Moneytucker-Jamestown road realignment, from 23 February to 14 May 2004. The project was funded by Wexford County Council through the NRA.

Across the road from the excavation, to the rear of a Church of Ireland church, the opposing gable ends of a medieval church stand in the centre of a graveyard atop a knoll of artificial appearance. The establishment of the medieval church is attributed to the nuns of Timolin some time in the early 13th century.

The excavation revealed the impacted extent of six ditches and uncovered the remains of five structures. Under examination, the plan of two of the ditches (C115 and C847) suggests that at different times they encircled the location of the medieval church. The plan and profile of the other ditches suggest associated field enclosures or boundaries.

The five structures uncovered represent activity ranging over a broad span of time. Structure 1 survived as an arc of seven post-holes, forming an internal diameter of c. 7.5m, a second arc of stake-holes intersecting the first arc and four internal postholes. Pottery tentatively identified as originating in the Middle Bronze Age came from two of the stake-holes. Structure 2 was evidenced by a roughly circular concentration of stake-holes with no easily discernible pattern and a diameter of c. 5.5m. Structure 3 survived as a stone wall footing, an external run-off drain, a beaten earth floor and two internal linear concentrations of stake-holes. Thewall footing enclosed an area 8m in length and of unknown width. A number of artefacts, including glass and pottery, suggest a mid-18th-century date for the use of this structure. The location of Structure 4 was badly disturbed by a double ditched field boundary; the surviving elements included a hearth, a scattering of three post-holes and five stake-holes. Structure 5 was evidenced by three large flat-bottomed post-holes and one smaller post-hole.

The site was notable for its lack of artefacts. The only artefactual evidence of note retrieved from secure contexts were a piece of ferrous slag from ditch C1602, a second piece of ferrous slag from ditch C831 and the artefacts recovered from Structures 1 and 3. A substantial sampling program was undertaken and initial cleaning of these samples has revealed a large amount of dating and environmental evidence from both the ditches and structures. This will assist in further defining the phases of activity at Moneytucker and help place each phase in its temporal, historical, social and environmental context.

Four weeks from the end of the excavation an aerial survey was undertaken. The shadow of a topographical feature probably demarcating the continuing track of one of the ditches encircling the site of the church was visible from the air. This projection would see C115 enclosing an area of c. 350m by 200m around the medieval church and its environs. If Early Christian, this would place this site at Rossdroit among six of the largest enclosures of that date in County Wexford.