2005:053 - KENNEDIES: Kennedies Quarry, Cavanpole Road, Armagh

The site was described in the SMR as a 15m-wide, roughly circular platform surrounded by a 4.5–6m-wide rock-cut ditch with the remains of a 4.5–6m external bank. However, the subsequent dumping of topsoil to the north and east of the site, and the apparent levelling to the south and west, meant that nothing of archaeological significance was clearly visible on the surface and that trial-trenching was therefore required. The site occupied a roughly rectangular promontory above a quarry with the approximate dimensions of 45m north-west/south-east by 35m.

It was uncertain whether the site was a rath (as described on the OS 6-inch maps) or a barrow. It was hoped that the testing would reveal which type of monument was present.

A cruciform series of trenches was excavated extending from a central point as far out across the site as possible. It was agreed that those sections of the ditch that might be picked up through trial-trenching should be fully excavated to reveal the width and depth, information which could be used to help calculate a time scale and number of staff required for full excavation.

Trial-trench 1 was excavated across the north-west to south-east length of the site where the southern portion of ditch and external bank was picked up. The ditch was filled with large angular and sub-angular stones, as well as animal bones, particularly towards the base. In the main, these represented cattle, although sheep/goat bones were also present. The cut had steeply sloping sides with a sharp break at both the top and bottom and displayed a U-shaped profile. The ditch was cut into the bedrock and had a width of c. 4m and a depth of c. 1m. The external bank had a width of c. 4m and, although it had been severely truncated, it remained to a height of over 0.1m above the subsoil.

The ditch and external bank were also picked up at the northern end of the site. The ditch cut was very similar in profile, with the U-shaped cut visible at the south again apparent. This part of the ditch was also cut into the bedrock and the dimensions were again c. 4m wide and 1m deep. The fills associated with this ditch also revealed quantities of animal bone and small traces of charcoal flecking. Very little of the outer bank remained in this particular part of the site, as it was the access point for quarry plant machinery. However, it was possible to pick up the remaining bank material in places and it is confidently felt that future excavation will expose more of the remaining bank just a metre or so to the east.

A large mound of redeposited material from the quarry ran approximately east–west across the site. Modern pottery and sewer-pipe fragments were found in the lower layers as deep as the bedrock surface.

Due to large amounts of redeposited material across the site, it was not really possible to place Trial-trench 2 in a position in which one would have expected to pick up the extreme diameter of the ring-ditch to the west and east. Nevertheless, Trial-trench 2 was still able to pick up the ditch in these places, although at a slightly oblique angle.

To the west, the ditch again cut through the bedrock and again measured c. 4m across and c. 1m deep, although the amount of topsoil overburden here put the base of the ditch almost 2m below the modern ground surface. The cut had fairly steep sides, with the internal slope being the steepest and the base showing a relatively flat U-shaped profile. Unfortunately the proximity of the ditch to the edge of the quarry meant that it was not possible to determine the width of the bank at this place.

The amount of redeposited material at the eastern edge of the site meant that it was only possible to extend this area of the trench 3–4m in this direction, but it was hoped that this would be far enough to locate the ditch in this quarter. Fortunately the edge ditch-cut appeared exactly where it was predicted but the huge amount of redeposited material present here meant that this was all that could be determined at this time. There was no excavation at this point and, therefore, it was not possible to pick up the outer ditch-cut or any evidence of an external bank. However, the small portion of the ditch-surface that could be exposed revealed large quantities of prehistoric pottery. There was a single piece of burnt bone, but at this stage it is not possible to say if this was human or animal.

The most numerous artefacts recovered from the site were animal bone. A specialist has not yet examined these, but it is evident that most are cattle, with sheep/goat also well represented. Modern pottery also appears in abundance, but this is fairly typical of any archaeological site, as are the glass, clay-pipe fragments and metal objects found here. However, the relatively small quantity of struck flint appears to contrast with the large quantity of prehistoric pottery found, particularly around the eastern ditch-cut in Trial-trench 2, especially when very little of this cut was excavated.

It is worth noting that the pottery found in the upper fill of the eastern ditch-cut was all uncovered within a very small area and seems to come from the same vessel.

Due to the presence of a ditch with an outer rather than an inner bank, it seems that the site was a barrow rather than a rath. This conclusion is further reinforced by the type and nature of the pottery uncovered in the eastern ditch.

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