County: Meath Site name: DUNBOYNE (4)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: A017/002, E3024
Author: Ruth Elliott, for Archaeological Consultancy Services Limited
Site type: House - indeterminate date, Kiln and Field boundary
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 700995m, N 741789m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.436130, -6.469220
The site was excavated between 30 March and 23 May 2006 as part of the M3 Clonee to north of Kells motorway scheme. On the western side of a small hill, it was situated in a locality formerly known as Kilbraynan, the location of extensive monastic ruins dating from at least the 13th century. The ruins were demolished in the early 19th century but had probably been centred on a D-shaped enclosure and multivallate ringfort lying just outside the CPO line to the north and south of the site respectively. These were identified through aerial photography carried out by Leo Swan, which also picked up traces of rectilinear features considered to be a possibly contemporary field system. The latter lay within the land-take for the proposed route and linear features picked up during testing appeared to correlate with them. The assessment also identified a large double-oval shape in the landscape, defined by the existing field boundaries and potentially enclosing both the monuments and rectilinear features.
One cutting was opened near the top of the hill and central to the inner (possible) oval enclosure (Cutting 1). Another was opened in the location of the rectilinear features to examine the possibility that they may be contemporary with the two enclosures (Cutting 3). Three small cuttings were opened to examine the possible double-oval enclosure (Cuttings 2, 4 and 5).
Cutting 1
A gravel pit had been located here in the 19th century and large quantities of quarry waste sealed disused quarry features and, in the eastern part of the area, the remains of a rectangular post-built house.
Rectangular house
The house had been 4m in width and over 12m long. It was orientated north-west to south-east, with the entrance at the south-east. There was a possible entrance portico and beyond this a large gable support, from which two sherds of possibly Late Bronze Age pottery were retrieved. The outer wall foundations were comprised of large post-holes and the roof was supported by pairs of large posts set within the interior. An annexe was built on to the exterior of the south-west wall and an ancillary structure to the south-east may also have originally adjoined the house. There appeared to be an episode of extensive rebuilding, which probably involved complete replacement of the roof. When the structure had ultimately fallen into disrepair, it appeared the major structural elements were deliberately dismantled. There was no evidence for a hearth and no in situ floor-level features survived. Two large pits, almost 10m east of the house, may have been used for food storage.
Keyhole kiln
A keyhole kiln was located in the south-west and may have been used to produce lime. It was a clay-lined construct with an aboveground clay superstructure defining two bowl-shaped terminals and a central channel. A clay-lined bellows cut adjoined the kiln at the south-west. This latter was badly truncated by the root activity surrounding a tree bole. Two pits to the north-west appeared to contain waste material from the kiln.
Cutting 2
A gravel embankment was revealed parallel to the field boundary, but this had been formed during excavation of the boundary ditch and was probably post-medieval in date. No archaeological features were revealed and no evidence to suggest that a medieval (or earlier) enclosure existed in the location.
Cutting 3
With the exception of one isolated pit, the only features uncovered were drainage ditches. The earliest three had silted up naturally and no datable evidence was retrieved from them. The remainder comprised a series of very large late post-medieval and modern field drains. The latter corresponded to the rectilinear enclosures picked up by aerial photography and conclusively proved that they did not represent an archaeological field system contemporary to the D-shaped and multivallate enclosure.
Cuttings 4 and 5
Cuttings 4 and 5 were placed on either side of the suggested outer oval enclosure and were designed to test that hypothesis. No archaeological features were found within either cutting and no archaeological enclosure was found to exist in the location.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
