County: Wexford Site name: FRANKFORT (Site 1)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WX011-052 Licence number: A003/055
Author: Emma Devine, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd.
Site type: Pit and Kiln
Period/Dating: Prehistoric (12700 BC-AD 400)
ITM: E 710148m, N 654795m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.633189, -6.372753
The excavation was carried out following the completion of an archaeological assessment by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, for the N11 Gorey–Arklow link. The site was located to the south of the N11 between Camolin and Clogh, c. 6km to the south-west of Gorey town.
An oval pit was located just beyond the northern edge of the original test-trench and as such lay undisturbed. It measured 1.14m by 1m by 0.33m deep, and, though the dimensions may not seem that impressive, this pit alone contained over 187 pieces of domestic Beaker pottery (Helen Roche, Eoin Grogan, pers. comm.). Several layers of in situ burning attest to the fact that the pit had obviously been intensively used; there were also two periods of disuse, where thin layers of silting had time to build up.
A small kiln was identified at the eastern edge of the 30m by 30m area opened up around the pit; it was very basic in design, with an irregular bowl and a rudimentary notch acting as a flue connecting the hearth area to the bowl. It measured 2m by 0.9m by 0.3m deep and appeared to have been recut at a later date. Cereal grain was retrieved from its fill.
A number of pits of unknown date and function were also noted, although two did contain some scraps of Beaker pottery and all contained traces of cereal grain.
Evidence for forest clearance in the form of a number of burnt-out tree boles was also present within the 900m2 area; it is not yet known how this activity relates chronologically, if indeed at all, to the kiln and Beaker pit activity. Further pottery analysis and dating will hopefully shed further light on these theories.
Brehon House, Kilkenny Road, Castlcomer, Co. Kilkenny
