County: Armagh Site name: KENNEDIES: Acheson’s Quarry
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/06/142
Author: Chris Long, Gahan & Long Ltd.
Site type: Ringfort - rath
Period/Dating: Early Medieval (AD 400-AD 1099)
ITM: E 678363m, N 844326m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.341609, -6.794867
It is proposed to extend the quarrying operations at Kennedies Quarry, Kennedies, Co. Armagh. The proposed area for quarrying contains ARM011–010, a scheduled monument.
Full excavation of the site commenced on 5 June 2006, with a second season carried out in March 2007. The site was located on the edge of the quarry face on what is best described as a plinth projecting south-west into the quarry pit. The removal of overburden and topsoil revealed an arc of a ditch. As exposed, the ditch was subcircular in plan and enclosed an area of c. 53.84m. It was cut through bedrock to a maximum depth of 1.62m. In section, the ditch was roughly U-shaped with relatively steep sides and a flat base. The sides of the cut were irregular due to the nature of the limestone bedrock.
Artefacts retrieved from the ditch included animal bone, flint, everted-rim ware and a toilet implement (ear scoop) believed to date to the 7th–9th century. The ditch was interpreted as being the remains of a rath.
A single pit was identified within the area enclosed by the ditch. The pit was subrectangular in plan and measured 1.28m north-west/south-east by 1.14m. Artefacts recovered from the pit included animal bone and substantial quantities of everted-rim ware.
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