2012:182 - KILLOUGH: Knockavally Mound, Down

Knockavally, located just outside the village of Killough, Co. Down, is a prominent grass-covered mound on a ridge, rising to a little over 1.5m in height with relatively steep sides (15m by 19m in plan). A cross-carved stone found at the site is on display in Down County Museum.

A small research excavation was undertaken at the site over two weeks in March 2012. A topographical survey of a 40m by 40m area, centred on the mound, was also completed at the same time by Sapphire Mussen (CAF). Two trenches were opened: one on the top of the mound (6m x 2m) and one at the base (3m x 1m). The former was excavated to a depth of 1.9m and, apart from a few modern ceramics and corroded metal objects recovered from the upper sod and topsoil, a sequence of sterile stony clay deposits was recorded. The second trench was also largely sterile – the sod overlay a stony organic loam which produced some modern finds which overlay the glacial till and subsoil.

The Knockavally excavation, although limited in extent, shows that the mound is largely made-up of sterile deposits. There is no obvious surrounding ditch or scarp. The arrangement of stones on and around the mound appears to be random and the presence of a kerb cannot be substantiated (as is suggested in field notes from 1992 held in the MBR). Excavation determined that this is not a cairn (i.e. mound of stones) but the discovery of a number of plough-scratched stones would suggest that the mound was partly used as a ‘clearance cairn’. The absence of any skeletons or discovery of disarticulated bones would also suggest that, despite the discovery of the cross-carved stone, it was not used as a Christian cemetery mound or cillín. It is possible the cross-carved stone derived from the nearby medieval church site of Kilbride (DOW045-015) which had been fully razed by the 1830s. The origin/function of the mound remains undetermined.