2007:1021 - STONECARTHY WEST/KNOCKADRINA (AR068), Kilkenny

This site was located within the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford road scheme along Contract 2, Phase 4, Knocktopher to Powerstown. The site was located on a gentle west-facing slope on the northern spur of Knockadrina Hill and comprised an early medieval enclosure and associated features which overlaid some pre-existing features, principally a stone cobbled pathway/roadway, all of which were truncated by post-medieval agricultural activity (furrows and a field boundary).

The cobbled roadway/pathway ran from south-east to north-west across the site and was truncated by much of the southern extent of the enclosure and its internal features. This pathway was a single course of small stones, at least 75m in length and 1.6m in width, and in some areas appeared to have linear depressions reminiscent of wheel ruts. A further area of cobbled roadway in a very truncated state was present 30m to the south, along a similar orientation.

The other prehistoric features were near the site’s southern edge and these were possibly early Neolithic in date. There was a possible hut/house site made up of a series of slot-trenches and post-holes in a loose north-west/south-east alignment and a large pit (8m by 4m by 0.4m) to the immediate south-west of this. A further area with two medium-sized pits containing prehistoric pottery was present 30m to the east and these were truncated by a later kiln.

The enclosure ditch (185m by 3.1m by 1.2m) delineated an internal area of 65m north–south by 58m and had a causewayed entrance opening to the south-east, with associated features internally (possible gatepost), and an external east–west linear gully which would have aided in narrowing the entrance. The upper layers of ditch fill yielded an iron ring-headed pin and a copper-alloy penannular brooch pin.

The internal area of the enclosure was partitioned into three distinct zones by an arrangement of north–south linear and curvilinear gullies; this compartmentalised space within the interior was possibly for different functions (habitation, agricultural, industrial) which could have been re-ordered at different times during its occupancy. While no trace of a bank was present at the time of excavation, the fact that most of these divisions respected the space where a small bank would have been indicate the former existence of a small internal bank.

In the south-east quadrant of the internal space, an area 20m east–west by 16m was enclosed by a curvilinear gully (1m wide) and could be accessed by a gap between the gully and the bank in the south-west. In this enclosed area was a circular house (4.1m diameter) with a near-complete foundation slot-trench (0.22m width by 0.1m depth), with several posts around the south-west portion of the house, where the doorway/entrance would have been. Several substantial post-holes and pits which would have possibly constituted a small roofed work area or animal shelter were located in the northern end of this enclosed area.

A partially sunken house (7m north–south by 5m), with a partially intact cobbled floor surface, some intact stone walling and several substantial post-holes arranged in a subrectangular fashion, was situated in the north-eastern area of the large enclosure. Slot-trenches and small pits containing iron slag were adjacent to the structure and formed the focus for one of the industrial areas, all of which were present in the northern half of the enclosure. A linear gully, containing a fragment of lignite bracelet, cut into the west side of the sunken house and a further gully was located to the east. These gullies respected the house and may have demarcated a garden or agricultural area. Located 12m to the north-west was a series of three intercutting large rubbish pits (9m diameter by 1.5m depth), backfilled with layers of burnt material, large stones and iron slag, from which a possible circular belt buckle was recovered. To the west of these pits was an area (20m north-west/south-east by 10m) enclosed by two curvilinear slot-trenches; the eastern of the two respected the limit of the large pits, and this arrangement had a definite entrance at the south-east of this area. The last industrial area was just north of the enclosure’s centre and this comprised two furnace-type pits.In the western half of the enclosure were areas representing possible stock pens, gardens or small field systems, delineated by four east–west gullies running from the centre of the enclosure to its edge along with a north–south line of post-holes present in the north-west quadrant.

120B Greenpark Road, Bray, Wicklow