County: Monaghan Site name: LATTACROSSAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E0915
Author: Rosanne Meenan
Site type: Linear earthwork
Period/Dating: Iron Age (800 BC-AD 339)
ITM: E 649713m, N 817648m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.105506, -7.239830
Test-trenching was carried out on a site at Lattacrossan, Scotshouse, in response to a request for further information before a grant of planning permission was issued for a dwelling house. The southern limit of the site is formed by the line of the earthwork known as the Black Pig’s Dyke (Worm Dyke), SMR 21:11. This earthwork has been associated with the defence of Ulster in late Iron Age and early medieval times and features in folklore, where various legends attribute its construction to a Black Pig/a serpent/the Danes.
Seven test-trenches were excavated on the footprint of the house, garage, driveway, etc. A line of burnt clay, running approximately parallel with the line of the Black Pig’s Dyke along the eastern side of the site, was exposed. This was interpreted as the same palisade-type feature as was exposed on excavations by Aidan Walsh on the Black Pig’s Dyke further to the north in Aghareagh West townland (1987, 7).
When the owner was granted planning permission, he was required to have monitoring of ground disturbance carried out. Ground reduction for the driveway and the locations of the house and garage was supervised. In the area of the entrance, the sod and a layer of topsoil were removed. Subsoil was not revealed and the burnt palisade feature, exposed during testing, was not exposed.
Reference
Walsh, A. 1987 Excavating the Black Pig’s Dyke. Emania 3, 5–11.
Roestown, Drumree, Co. Meath
