County: Wicklow Site name: COOLBEG: Ballynagran landfill
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 04E1633
Author: Ellen O’Carroll, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Kiln, Cremation pit and Ring-ditch
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 727433m, N 690998m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.954616, -6.103451
Monitoring was carried out over a four-week period at the proposed site of a landfill at Ballynagran, Co. Wicklow. Three areas of archaeological interest were identified during this monitoring.
Area 1 consisted of three possible kilns and five possible cremation pits. The kilns were located 27m west of the cremation pits. These features remain unexcavated and are preserved in situ, as this area was proposed as temporary accommodation sites. The kilns were key-hole-shaped and measured c. 2.5m in length and 0.9m in diameter at their widest part. They had fills of burnt stone, charcoal and clay. The cuts of the kilns were lined with burnt red clay, which suggests in situ burning.
The cremation pits were generally circular in shape and averaged 0.5m in diameter, although there were some elongated pits that measured 1.2m in length. A section excavated through one of these features revealed a charcoal-rich fill that contained yellow ash and bone.
Area 2 was located over an area measuring 10m by 6m and was located 90m south-east of Area 1. It consisted of a cluster of eleven subcircular features of varying sizes which were all cut directly into the natural. These features were post-holes and pits. Their arrangement was irregular and did not conform to any definite structure.
Area 3 was located 17m south of Area 2 and comprised a small circular ring-shaped ditch measuring 4.5m in total diameter. Its internal diameter was 3m and the ditches measured 0.8–1.1m in width. The depth of the ditch was between 0.8m and 0.6m. A metal object which resembled a pin or brooch was uncovered in the ditch fill. Also within the ditch fill were spreads of charcoal and bone, which presumably represent the burials which were placed in the ditch over time.
Post-excavation analysis is ongoing and dates are forthcoming for the above-excavated features.
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