2007:1482 - CARNS, Roscommon

In 2006 the Medieval Rural Settlement Project began a programme of fieldwork in North Roscommon examining relict field boundaries and settlements of potential medieval origin. Carns townland was highlighted for intensive survey and excavation due to the presence of well-preserved earthwork sites, including the O’Conor inauguration mound (Excavations 2006, No. 1715). A circular enclosure, traditionally assumed to be a church site, was targeted for excavation because it appeared to be a primary settlement node, with evidence for house sites and gardens and an obvious reworking of the outer enclosure into the wider field system. Excavation in 2006 revealed the foundations of a late medieval church, which confirmed local tradition that this was a church site. The earlier origin of the site was also confirmed by the discovery of an ogham stone. Rotary-quern fragments and charred cereal remains indicated that food processing took place at the site and supported the likelihood that there was an associated settlement.

The project returned in 2007 for a further season of excavation to assess the nature of the settlement component of the site. A trench was opened across the southern half of a raised rectangular platform inside the church site enclosure and to the west of the church. Excavation confirmed that the platform marked the remains of at least one building. The first building was rectangular in plan, defined by drystone walls, and had a south-facing entrance marked by large limestone slabs. Examination of the exposed wall foundations in conjunction with the geophysical resistance data for the surrounding area suggests that the building measured c. 10m north–south by at least 8m. Internal features included a large hearth and a possible internal partition, against which were a series of distinct surfaces, possibly compartments. Artefacts including a cross-headed bone stick-pin, a perforated bone pin, a segmented tubular blue glass bead and iron knives suggest the building was occupied some time between the 10th and 12th centuries AD, although this picture is open to revision pending radiocarbon dating of charcoal from the hearth. Immediately west of the main building a paved area abutting a stone kerb could be the remains of a second building. The recovery of animal bones and rotary-quern fragments reinforces the impression that the church site incorporated a significant settlement component.