County: Louth Site name: Site 15, Haggardstown
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: 06E0484
Author: Gill McLoughlin, Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, 9 Albert Terrace, Meath Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Site type: Bronze Age round houses
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 705646m, N 803025m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.965717, -6.389907
Excavation of this site took place in advance of a planned housing scheme. The site was one of a number identified as a result of extensive testing (Excavations 2005, No. 1078, 05E0963). The remains of two post-built structures were excavated at the site.
Structure A
There were numerous pits and post-holes in this area, which made the exact layout of the structure unclear. However, a circular house formation seems most likely, with a possible fenced area attached to the main wall of the house. The house structure was c. 8m in diameter and had a possible entrance in the form of two narrow slot-trenches, located on the eastern side of the house, facing south-east. Two other external post-holes, 4m south-east of the main structure, could have formed an external fencing feature or part of an even larger rectangular structure in this area. One large post, thought to be external to the structure, contained sherds of Late Bronze Age pottery from a coarse flat-bottomed vessel and a portion of a rubbing stone that would have been used with a saddle quern. Some of the other post-holes and pits also contained occasional sherds of Bronze Age pottery and flint, and one of them contained a small hammerstone.
The possible entrance to the structure consisted of two slot-trenches, oriented north-west/south-east, with an opening to the south-east. The gap between the parallel trenches was 1.05m at its widest and the trenches were 1.4m in length. A similar arrangement, also facing south-east, was evident in Structure B, c. 15m to the south-east.
Structure B
The layout of this structure was more straightforward than Structure A. It consisted of a circular arrangement of post-holes measuring 6m by 5m and two short slot-trenches facing south-east at what is presumed to be the entrance. There was a 0.6–1m gap between the slot-trenches and both were c. 1.8m in length. One of the post-holes of the structure contained flint debitage and a small number of post-holes contained packing stones. A small quantity of Bronze Age pottery sherds were recovered from some of the features. The fills of the post-holes contained flecks of charcoal, but in most cases the amounts were very small.
Approximately 4m to the south of Structure B was a smaller possible structure, consisting of six stake-holes and two pits. The fills of these features contained little charcoal and no finds. A number of pits were excavated in the vicinity of the houses, some of which proved to be modern and some that were probably associated with the houses.
A linear field boundary/drainage ditch oriented north-east/south-west, in line with existing field boundaries, truncated the site, running between the two structures. Finds from this ditch included modern delph, clay-pipe fragments and flint.
