2006:2033 - Ballydonagh, Westmeath

Excavation was carried out on behalf of Westmeath County Council as part of a landfill extension at Ballydonagh, a townland 5km to the west of Moate. During the course of monitoring, two small archaeological sites were uncovered. Site 1 at Ballydonagh was located on the south-facing slope of a low hill which formed part of an undulating landscape well drained by numerous streams and small rivers. Site 2 was located on an area of flat ground to the south of Site 1.
Site 1
A mechanical excavator was used to remove a thin layer of topsoil, 0.15m deep, from across the site, which measured 19.5m north–south by 20.5m. The entire area was cleaned manually, which revealed several pits and a large area of oxidised clay, characterised by the orange/reddish colour of the clay. The features were located on a relatively flat platform (5.2m north–south by 6.1m), devoid of stones, on the south-facing slope of a relatively steep-sided hill. The absence of stone was quite noticeable in an area surrounded by rocky outcrops and small stones, which suggested that the platform was at least partially artificial.
The principal feature on the site was a small bowl furnace located towards the centre of the platform, around which were scattered a number of pits and post-holes. The bowl furnace was roughly circular in plan, measuring 0.8m north–south by 0.83m, with a maximum depth of 0.24m. The furnace bowl itself was oval in shape and measured 0.38m north–south by 0.5m. The clay sides and base of the furnace bowl had been scorched by the intense heat within the furnace and had been oxidised to a bright orange to red colour. The base of the furnace bowl contained a solid mass of iron slag material, with the remainder of the bowl and a larger external cut filled by a mixed brown to dark-brown silty clay.
A shallow oval-shaped pit was identified 0.43m to the south of the bowl furnace and measured 0.78m east–west by 0.56m with a maximum depth of 0.21m. Another pit, subrectangular in shape, was identified 0.8m to the south-east of the bowl furnace. A third pit was subrectangular in shape and located a little further to the east. A circular post-hole, 0.25m in diameter and 0.29m deep, was exposed in the north corner of the pit. The final pit uncovered was large and roughly circular, to the west of the bowl furnace, and truncated the main area of burning. The pit, which had a bowl-shaped profile, measured 1.2m north–south by 1.1m and had a maximum depth of 0.38m. Each pit was filled with fragments of iron slag, traces of oxidised clay and charcoal.
Site 2
The site was a rectangular area measuring c. 15m east–west by 12.5m. A deposit of grey/brown silty clay was exposed in the centre of the site which contained moderate charcoal flecking and occasional inclusions of heat-affected limestone. This deposit was located in the centre of the site and had maximum dimensions of 4.6m by 3.75m. Excavation of this deposit revealed that it was a shallow spread, 0.05m deep, which lay within a depression. A single fragment of green-glazed medieval pottery was recovered from the surface of this deposit.