2006:695 - Saggart, Dublin

A number of potential archaeological features were identified during monitoring carried out in advance of a housing development at Saggart Lodge, Saggart, Co. Dublin. The work was carried out in August 2006. The development is located within the designated zone of archaeological potential which defines Saggart settlement, and is within the curtilage of Saggart Lodge, a listed building with protected structure status.
The archaeological features were concentrated in an area of 30m east–west by 27m in the west of the development. Three linear ditches orientated east–west representing two phases of land division were identified. The ditches terminated in the west, 1m from a rough stone trackway; 28 sherds of medieval pottery were recovered from below the trackway, primarily dating to the 13th century. A third phase of activity on the site was represented by a number of large circular pits, which had an average diameter of 2.6m and a depth of 0.45m. The largest of the pits was cut into the southernmost easterly ditch and a second pit was cut into the surface of the trackway. The pits were filled with a dark-brown charcoal-rich silt. It is likely that these would have functioned in some form of agricultural production such as crop processing, perhaps as waste pits for kiln material. Nine sherds of medieval pottery dating from the late 12th to the 14th century were recovered from the pits.
One hundred sherds of pottery were recovered from the features on the site. The dominant pottery types were Leinster cooking ware and the locally produced Dublin-type wares, with a date range of late 12th–14th-century (N. Mitchell, pers. comm.).