County: Meath Site name: CREGG
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E0526
Author: Ellen O’Carroll, The Archaeology Company
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 683111m, N 789591m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.849139, -6.736895
Testing took place of a large limestone outcrop at Cregg townland, Co. Meath. The 32,000m2 outcrop stands to a maximum height of over 31m from the field surface, with the summit 82.49m above OD. The site is set within an undulating drumlin landscape, between the River Lagan and the River Dee, 3km north-north-east of Nobber. Fifteen trenches were excavated mechanically across the summit of the hill, and archaeological features and deposits were noted in three of them.
The features in Trench 3 represent a cluster of token-type prehistoric cremation burials, possibly of mid-late Bronze Age date (c. 1200–600 BC). In Trench 4, two subcircular pits, much larger than those in Trench 3, did not contain obvious cremation deposits, but the larger of the two did yield fragments of crumbly, low-fired clay, possibly crude prehistoric pottery. In Trench 10, three linear features were noted, one of which is a substantial east–west-orientated ditch-type feature over 3m in width, apparently terminating within the trench, emanating upslope to the east. The other two features are much narrower and at right angles to each other, aligned north-west/south-east and north-east/south-west. These contained charcoal flecks and have the appearance of man-made features. If discovered in a low-lying area, they may have been interpreted as plough furrows, but situated just off the summit, in the lee of an outcropping of rock, they may represent prehistoric settlement activity.
An inscription was recorded on an exposed rock face, approximately halfway up the south-western face of the hill. This inscription was well executed, with hammer and chisel, rather than being scratched graffiti. The inscription bears the letters ‘P. S. V.’ with a date of ‘98’ just below it, and a 0.15m-tall cruciform below the two. The landowner informed the author of a tale by his grandfather of three bishops being buried ‘under the rock’.
The proposed development will require that the entire hill of rock be removed and reduced to flat ground. With this in mind, and given that there are archaeological features in three locations across the summit, it was recommended that the features be preserved by record.
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