2011:642 - LUGDUFF, Wicklow

In 2009 UCD School of Archaeology initiated a broad research and teaching project focusing on the Glendalough Valley, with an initial focus on the landscapes in the Upper Valley. In 2011 this involved c. 40 students in a two-week project of excavation, geoarchaeological survey, environmental sampling, geophysical survey, drawn and electronic surveys and public outreach. The aims of the 2011 excavation were the examination of a complex of features uncovered by excavation (Excavations 2010, no. 844, 10E0311) and geophysical survey in 2010. The excavations tested the geophysical survey results but were not able to characterise fully the archaeological features uncovered.

Trench 2 from 2010 (5m x 2m) was reopened and redesignated as Trench 2A. Four new trenches (2B, 5.5m x 3.5m; 2C, 5.5m x 2.2m; 2D, 3m x 3m; 2E, 2m x 1m) were opened on the western side of Trench 2A, all within a 10m x 10m grid encompassing a square area outlined by four geophysical anomalies. The trench layout was focused to explore further the anticipated junction of a track and stone path partially examined in 2010 but also identified several further archaeological features not detected by the geophysical survey.

Initial excavation exposed well-defined furrows and more irregular ploughmarks. Two post-holes with clear packing stones were identified, one of which contained recent glass/iron. Three pairs of ditches, with steep, almost vertical sides and predominantly flat bases, were aligned north-north-west/south-south-east, spaced c. 2m apart. These were interpreted as relating to drainage for a tree nursery located in this area during the early part of the 20th century and seen in photographic and historic records. All of these features were cut into varied local soil deposits of loose, light grey-brown silty clay containing fine pebbles that overlay stone structures below.

The north-east/south-west stone pathway recorded in Trench 2A in 2010 was followed for a further 5.5m to the south-west along the length of Trench 2B. The structure was 1.2m wide and consisted of a single course of irregular/rounded granite, schist and quartz stones extending beyond the north-eastern limit of Trench 2A and the south-western limit of Trench 2B. The kerbing stones forming the north-western and south-eastern sides of the path were larger and regularly laid. The path was disturbed and partly truncated by later activity in a number of locations, particularly by the creation of the later drainage ditches. To the north-east, the path appears to have led towards a cross/cairn (WI023-026) located c. 20m beyond the limit of excavation.

C.302 was a surface of mainly schist slabs in the eastern corner of Trench 2B between stone path C.202 and the south-eastern limit of the trench. The slabs were regularly laid, forming a lozenge-shaped surface (1.88m x 1.42m) with defined northern and southern edges. A small part of C.302 was uncovered in 2010 at the base of Test Pit 3. In 2011 the structure was fully investigated and removed to expose the underlying buried topsoil (C.216=255=304). C.217=303 was a cairn (1.5m x 1.46m x 0.15m) of slab fragments, subangular stones, cobbles and pebbles of mixed lithology immediately adjacent to the slab surface (C.302). The structure had an irregular shape, as seen in limited exposures along the north-western limit of Trench 2A, as well as at the eastern corner of Trench 2B and the northern corner of Trench 2C. C.270 was a surface formed by angular and subangular cobbles and coarse pebbles, mainly of schist and quartzite with pink and red hue, exposed at the south-eastern end of Trench 2E. The surface had an irregular north-western edge and extended beyond the south-eastern, south-western and north-eastern limits of the trench. Later activity had disturbed stones from the upper surface into the overlying topsoil.

A substantial buried topsoil (C.216=255=304), 0.24m in depth, of compact, dark grey sandy silt with charcoal and manganese flecking was located in many parts of the trench and underlying the later stone features. The soil occurred across Trench 2 but in many places it had been removed by later agricultural and development activities. Beneath this there were a series of subsoils that were explored in Trench 2A in 2010.

The excavation of the new parts of Trench 2 in 2011 recovered a range of artefacts from the topsoil mainly of 19th/20th-century or later date, including ceramics, iron objects, clay pipes and miscellaneous objects. A sherd of Dublin Cooking Ware suggests earlier activity in the area, in addition to two sherds of Leinster Cooking Ware and a fragment of a Dublin Type strap handle recovered in the topsoil in 2010. A small number of finds were recovered from other contexts, including a fragment of glass from the fill of drainage ditch C.274, fragments of burnt bone, iron nails and unidentified iron objects from the fill of post-hole C.276, an iron nail from the fill of post-hole C.291 and iron nails from the fill of drainage ditch C.286. All the finds indicate that these features are of relatively recent date.

The range of built stone features, including paths, pavements and small cairns, pre-date an episode of soil deposition, possibly associated with flood events. These features remain undated and the chronology of the path and related built structures in Trench 2 remains uncertain, with a terminus ante quem represented by the drainage ditches probably dating from the early 20th century. The pathway appears to relate to the nearby cross base but no physical relationship has yet been established.

Trench 4 (10m x 5m, aligned east–west) was located 30m to the north-north-east of the caher (WI023-025) and was positioned to investigate a pair of opposing curvilinear high-resistance geophysical anomalies located equidistant between two upstanding cross bases (WI023-024 and 023-025001). The trench was excavated in quadrants (4A, 4B, 4C and 4D, each 2m x 4.5m) and little of archaeological significance was recovered.

A topsoil of brown silty sand with occasional charcoal and stones (C.401) covered the entirety of Trench 4 and produced a small number of 20th-century finds. A curvilinear field boundary/banked feature runs south-south-east/north-north-west in the easternmost part of the parkland and was partially uncovered at the edge of the eastern quadrants (4B and 4D), but the exposure was too limited to establish the form or function of the feature or its antiquity.

A series of agricultural features were revealed underlying the topsoil and were interpreted as furrows with two distinct phases of activity. The earliest (Phase I) comprised a series of south-south-west/north-north-east-running furrows (C.411, C.413, C.415, C.419 and C.425) cut into the underlying subsoil (0.3–0.8m wide and 0.03–0.2m in depth). Those of the later sequence, Phase II, were more regular and aligned north–south but were not as wide or deep as the earlier furrows, which they truncated. The Phase II furrows (C.417, C.421 and C.423) were of consistent shape (0.23–0.31m wide and 0.05–0.1m in depth), with shallow concave profiles and flat bases. Further features identified in Trench 4B and 4D may also be furrows (C.407 and C.409), but these were not as clear and it was not possible to establish phasing.

A sondage was excavated through Trench 4C to a maximum depth of 0.8m in order to investigate the underlying subsoils and geomorphic processes and their relationship to the archaeological deposits. This uncovered a series of gravel deposits and sediments, mainly deposited by water, suggesting a stream/watercourse that came from the south associated with a mountain/hill slide or flooding of the river to the south.

No. 642. Lugduff: Trench 2 under excavation, with the Upper Lake in the background; the caher WI023-025 is partially visible on the right.

No. 642. Lugduff: mid-excavation view of Trench 2B, looking south-west, showing the stone path (C.202) and damage caused by later drainage ditches. The pavement (C.302) of larger slabs is located in the bottom left of the photograph.

UCD School of Archaeology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4