2013:198 - Sheephill, National Sports Campus, Dublin

Excavation was undertaken at Sheephill, Co. Dublin on behalf of the National Sports Campus Development Agency. The fieldwork took place between 5 February and 1 March 2013.

Two areas of archaeological significance were excavated comprising of a burnt mound (Area A) and a medieval farmstead (Area B).

Area A comprised of three burnt mound deposits associated with three troughs and three small pits. The larger of the main burnt mound spreads sealed two troughs and the second separate burnt mound deposit sealed the third trough. A third, smaller deposit was located to the south and may represent material disturbed through ploughing or other activities. These features were truncated by later activity in the form of post-medieval drains and a brick deposit. No artefacts were retrieved from the site. Dating of charcoal from each of the three troughs returned date ranges in the Early Bronze Age.

The excavated features in Area B comprised of a medieval farmstead which was located on a flat plateau adjacent a small stream. The core settlement consisted of a number of small enclosing gully-like features, small pits and a possible hearth. To the south of the core settlement an area was enclosed by a series of ditches creating a small field or pen. Two fields were created as annexes to this field enclosed by a further series of ditches. A number of smaller features (deposits, pits and cistern) were recorded across the site that have been dated to the medieval period either on the basis of their stratigraphic relationship or because they produced medieval pottery, or both. A large quantity (c. 9.7kg) of animal bone and some metal objects were also retrieved. A small fragment of an early medieval bangle was also retrieved from a ditch fill.

The pottery assemblage suggests a date range of mid- to later 13th century and is typical of a medieval farmstead of the period with locally produced pottery jugs, cooking and storage jars and a bowl. The animal bones recovered from Sheephill were mostly dated to the occupation of the medieval farmstead. The range of identified species fits with the expected pattern for a medieval rural settlement with livestock and non-edible domestic pets dominating the assemblage. The cereal crops recorded represent a typical medieval assemblage associated with an organized managed settlement. The pulse crops identified confirm the late medieval date for the site and reflect that managed garden plots may have been present. A single broken smithing hearth cake weighing approximately 556g. was recovered, which is well within the range of weights and sizes produced during blacksmithing in the medieval period in Ireland.

A number of post-medieval linear ditches and drains or gullies were also identified in Area B. To the north of the medieval activity the remains of a brick kiln was recorded which had been annotated on the first edition six-inch OS map as ‘Brickfields’. Comparison of the bricks from the kiln with those in the red-brick wall of the walled garden to the west of Abbotstown House confirms that they are of a similar fabric and identical size and it is possible that the bricks made in this kiln were used within the walled garden.

Monitoring of topsoil stripping along the route of an access road was also undertaken in January and February 2013. Nothing of archaeological significance was identified.

Two separate areas of activity were identified on the site, dating to two different periods in the past – the early Bronze Age and the medieval period. In relation to the early Bronze Age burnt mound activity the excavations at Sheephill are of local importance as they represent the first evidence of prehistoric activity in the immediate area.

The medieval activity is locally significant as it provides the first excavated evidence of medieval activity in the immediate area. The site is also of regional and indeed national significance however, based on the paucity of excavated evidence of medieval rural farmsteads and settlements. While the site conforms largely to our existing understanding of the function and form of medieval farmsteads, complimented by the artefactual assemblage, the rarity of the site type in the archaeological record makes it an important addition. The bangle fragment recovered from the site is also a regionally/nationally important addition given that it represents only the second ever find of this pattern/design in the country, albeit that it was not recovered from an 7th – 10th-century context and as such is a stray find.

IAC Ltd, Unit G1, Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow