County: Wexford Site name: BALLYELLIN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A003/051
Author: Kevin Martin, Valerie J. Keeley Ltd.
Site type: Burnt mound and Burnt pit
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 721109m, N 667787m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.747571, -6.206132
The initial identification of archaeological features on the site was confirmed by testing under licence A003/005 as part of the N11 Gorey–Arklow scheme. Excavation commenced in July for a period of four weeks. The site was located in a hilly field south of Arklow town.
Towards the centre of the site a large horseshoe-shaped mound of burnt material was excavated. It measured 6m long from north to south and 3.1m wide. Its depth was 0.2m. It consisted of dark-grey/black silty clay with charcoal and burnt stones. The burnt mound was truncated by a modern field drain running east to west across the site.
Two 1m-wide sections were excavated into the burnt mound and revealed a series of accumulated burnt deposits and a lower trough cut. It measured 3.14m long from east to west and 2.15m wide. It was 0.9m deep. The western edge was well defined but irregular in shape. There was an unusual undercut in the south-western corner of the trough. The eastern edge of the trough was less well defined, possibly because a modern field drain caused some disturbance to the original cut. Alternatively, it may have been subject to slumping and disruptive river channel deposition activity. The trough contained three fills. At the base of the trough was a layer of mixed stones with moderate amounts of charcoal. It measured 1m by 1.2m and was 0.2m deep. It is possible that they were the remains of a stone-lined trough base.
North of the burnt mound a circular pit measuring 0.6m by 0.7m and 0.2m in depth was excavated. It contained two fills. Its upper fill consisted of black loose silty clay with moderate inclusions of heat-cracked stones and charcoal. The lower fill was composed of blackish-brown silty clay with charcoal and occasional pebbles. It is likely that this was used during the same phase as the burnt-mound feature and may have functioned as a small water-boiling/holding pit. Following the abandonment of the burnt mound, it was subsequently covered by deposits from the palaeo-river channel which ran along its edge.
A cluster of 49 stake-holes was excavated in the south-east corner of the site encompassing an area of c. 2.4m in diameter. They ranged in diameter between 0.04m and 0.14m. The range in depth was between 0.04 and 0.25m. Their profiles varied and many had V-shaped or rounded bases with straight or concave sides. Each contained a single fill, the majority of which consisted of brown silty clay with charcoal inclusions. There were a number of double-cut stake-holes. The stake-holes were both cut into the natural and into the fills of a lower large oval pit, C174. There was no recognisable pattern or regular form to the stake-holes, which may indicate several phases of activity in this area.
As mentioned, some stake-holes were cut into the upper fills of a lower-lying pit. The upper of the two pits measured 1.37m by 1.2m and was 0.35m deep. It had concave sides and a rounded base and was orientated north-east/south-west. The upper fill was orange/black loose sandy clay with moderate inclusions of charcoal. The lower fill was grey/black loose silty clay with charcoal and burnt stones.
Pit C.174 cut an earlier larger pit, C.177, which also contained burnt material, including heat-affected stones and charcoal. The pit had a depth of 0.45m and measured 2.2m by 1.2m. It was oval in shape and had concave sides and a flat base. It contained three fills. It was truncated on its south-west side by a modern drain.
A number of other features were investigated on the site but were of no archaeological significance. They included tree boles, pockets of decomposing stone, natural deposits of clay and hill wash deposits with occasional inclusions of charcoal.
A palaeo-river channel ran north–south across the full length of the west side of Site 51 for a distance of 45m. It was 7m wide and was c. 0.8m deep. It had concave sides and a flat base. It contained nineteen fills and was cut by two modern drains.
Finds consisted of worked flint and post-medieval pottery. Dating of the features awaits the return of results from the radiocarbon analysis of charcoal samples from their various fills.
Brehon House, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny
