County: Antrim Site name: Brokerstown
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: AE/06/202
Author: Sarah Nicol, Northern Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, 638 Springfield Road, Belfast, BT12 7DY.
Site type: Bronze Age, Early Christian and post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 715061m, N 886524m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.713630, -6.214280
Work at Brokerstown, Knocmore, is ongoing, with less than half of the areas of archaeological interest having been investigated. No post-excavation work has yet been carried out. The following is a brief description of the results of the excavation to date.
A series of features associated with the remains of a stone farmhouse were uncovered, with a dendrochronological date of AD 1611 6 eleven years.
Two areas containing post-holes and stake-holes, which may be structural, were uncovered. No pottery was found and very little flint. Post-excavation work, including radiocarbon dating, will be essential to understanding these areas.
An oval ditch located in the north-eastern extremity of the site was only partially uncovered, as it runs off-site under a main road. It appears to be between 35m and 45m in diameter. The ditch was between 1m and 1.5m in width but less than 1m in surviving depth. The feature appears to be Bronze Age in date by examination of the pottery recovered from the ditch, but further analysis of the finds is needed. Only four features (pits) were uncovered within the enclosure. One of these contained an iron blade, which suggests that it at least was not part of the enclosure.
Three burnt-mound troughs have been uncovered to the north and south of a minor river that runs through the site. To the north of one of them is an area that contains a series of pits that may have been sheltered by a fence, windbreak or light structure. The pits are partially surrounded by a series of stake-holes.
Finally, a crude post-medieval (possibly 18th- or 19th-century) road runs across the site from east to west. It was c. 220m long and lay 170m north of the southern boundary of the site. In one place this road overlay a series of pits, one of which contained a complete, though broken, pot. This pot was probably Early Christian souterrain ware.
Excavation was temporarily suspended because of flooding on the site.
Remaining to be excavated are four main areas of interest. In the south-western corner of the site is an area of pits dating to the Neolithic period and a possible structure as yet undated. In the northern section of the site is another area of pits and two linear features, but there is no discernible pattern as yet to these features. Finally, in the centre of the site is an enclosure 35m in diameter with an additional enclosure 20m wide attached to its eastern side. This appears to be a rath with surviving internal features. These currently appear to be a circular structure and a series of pits. The exterior features include at least two radiating ditches that make up an outer field system.
