County: Wexford Site name: Ballygullen 6
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E004193
Author: Bruce Sutton, for TVAS (Ireland) Ltd, Ahish, Ballinruan, Crusheen, Co. Clare.
Site type: Findspot of penannular brooch
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 710473m, N 654150m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.627330, -6.368171
Ballygullen 6 was located on the proposed M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy scheme. The site was identified in a rectangular crop-planted field which slopes from the north-east to the south-west with a plateau in the middle on the south-west slope.
Upon excavation, Ballygullen 6 was deemed to be non-archaeological; however, a penannular brooch was recovered from the fill of a drainage ditch. The single find was a copper or copper-alloy penannular brooch that resembles Types F and F1 of Fowler’s penannular ring classification (Laing 1975). These types of penannular brooches are characterised by zoomorphic terminals and are dated to the 5th century. The find is heavily encrusted and no details are visible, therefore a more detailed description will hopefully be possible following conservation. The drainage ditch in which the penannular brooch was found was 13m long and 1.1m wide, with a maximum depth of 0.2m. The fill of the ditch was mottled yellowish/grey clay with occasional small angular and sub-angular stones.
Reference
Laing, L. 1975 The archaeology of late Celtic Britain and Ireland c. ad 400–1200, 305–6. London.
