2006:1545 - Dowdstown 2, Meath

This site was located within Contract 2 (Dunshaughlin to Navan) of the proposed M3 Clonee to north of Kells motorway and was identified during a geophysical survey by GSB Prospection. Advance testing was carried out by Steve Linnane in March 2004 (Excavations 2005, No. 1221, 04E0419) and full resolution began in 2005.
The focal point of this site is its domestic/
settlement component, which is defined by a circular ringfort and associated field systems that are appended to its eastern side. Expansion of this enclosure is evident in a further phase, comprising a larger heart- or D-shaped enclosure, which incorporates the northern, western and south-west sides of the ringfort and which would have provided additional space for domestic use. Radiocarbon dates of ad 554–651 and ad 605–702 have been returned for the ringfort and D-shaped enclosure respectively.
Up to three structures were identified within the above enclosures, one of which was constructed of a series of post-holes and was enclosed by the ringfort ditch, while the foundation remains of two additional structures appeared to be contemporary with the later expansion of the site. These represented separate phases of construction, and part of a later structure was superimposed upon an earlier example.
Domestic and/or industrial activity, also associated with the site expansion, was present in the form of a number of large pits, a kiln and a furnace located at the south-west side of the D-shaped enclosure.
A network of early medieval fields was identified to the north and east of the enclosure complex. Preliminary excavation results suggest that these were constructed in two phases, possibly reflecting those evident from the primary construction and later expansion of the enclosing elements of the site. Field 1 enclosed an area measuring 40m north–south by 46.4m. This was attached to the eastern side of the ringfort and formed the westernmost example of at least three contiguous fields that are visible on the geophysical survey for the area.
Field 2 was present in the form of a rectangular ditched enclosure situated to the north of the enclosure complex. Two linear ditches connected Field 2 to the latter; however, since the fills of the northern side of the ringfort had been removed during the expansion of the enclosure, contemporaneity between this phase of field construction and the D-shaped enclosure is more likely. Again, the geophysical survey shows a series of contiguous fields aligned in a direction (east–west) parallel to those associated with Field 1.
Up to fourteen cereal-drying kilns, four furnaces and a number of large pits were exposed across the entire site during the excavation. The majority of these were unearthed at the southern side of the site during the latter part of the excavation, while a smaller quantity were located within the interior and immediately south of the D-shaped enclosure. Two such kilns were associated with a ditched enclosure to the south of the main enclosure complex. One was enclosed by the ditch, while the second was located within the ditch itself, which effectively acted as a flue. Both of these kilns were elaborate and stone-lined, and were among three of such examples on the site.
The ditched enclosure appeared to be industrial in nature; it was trapezoidal in plan and was transected by two narrow, linear ditches. One of the latter was observed to have been truncated by the ditch that delineated the southern side of Field 1, placing it stratigraphically earlier than Field 1 and possibly also the ringfort.