County: Kerry Site name: MANOR EAST
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E0457
Author: Fiona Rooney, Arch Consultancy Ltd.
Site type: Ring-ditch and Pit
Period/Dating: Early Medieval (AD 400-AD 1099)
ITM: E 485910m, N 613358m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.260089, -9.671279
Monitoring of topsoil-stripping of a proposed development was undertaken over a period of five days in March 2005. In the north-west of the site a crescent-shaped ditch feature was uncovered directly below the topsoil. Excavation of the ring-ditch was carried out over a period of seven days in May 2005. The ring-ditch measured 7.1m by 5.8m externally, 6.4m by 5.3m internally and was delimited by a narrow ditch. The ditch measured 0.3–0.4m wide and 0.22m in depth and ran from the north-north-east through south to the north-north-west. The terminals in the north-north-west and north-north-east were separated by a gap of 4.5m. The only feature visible in the interior of the site was a subcircular pit located off-centre to the west. The pit cut into the natural, measured 0.94m by 1.04m and 0.18m in depth and contained a layer of charred wood and burnt clay. A radiocarbon date obtained from this layer provided a date for the site: 1264±32 BP (AD 688–754).
The shape and form of the site conforms to ring-ditches and barrows, which were in use from the Neolithic through the Bronze Age and into the Iron Age.
Ballydavid South, Athenry, Co. Galway
