2015:164 - Area 1 Knockhouse Lower, Waterford

Excavation was undertaken in Archaeological Area 1 at Knockhouse Lower in advance of Phase 2 of an industrial development. Excavation followed a series of archaeological assessments of the zoned land carried out over the past 17 years including desk-top studies, walkovers, geophysical surveys and test excavation.

Prior to construction of Phase 1 of the development a variety of previously undocumented archaeological sites had been identified and excavated in eleven separate locations. These included: an enclosure, a burnt mound, a cremation burial and a cooking pit of Bronze Age date; a group of cereal drying kilns, a small circular structure and a field boundary ditch of early medieval date, and post-medieval field boundary ditches.

The Phase 2 part of Archaeological Area 1 contained a site listed on the RMP (enclosure WA009-003). This site was first identified as a cropmark on aerial photographs (ref: aerial photograph 90.S.9859, Roll 95, Print 24, SMR files). The presence and extent of this monument was subsequently confirmed by a series of archaeological investigations which included: a desk-top assessment by Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd. in 1998; geophysical survey by GSB Prospection during 2001; and archaeological test trenching by IAC in 2014 (Licence No.: 14E0325).

The 2014 test trenching confirmed that this was a ringfort with three concentric enclosing ditches and associated field boundary ditches. Part of Archaeological Area 1 was resolved during Phase 1 of the development. This comprised an area immediately south of the ringfort which included a linear field ditch and a series of kilns all of which are likely to be contemporary with the ringfort. This Phase 1 element of Archaeological Area 1 was excavated under licence no. 14E0325.

There were no above ground remains of this ringfort. The site is not depicted on the first edition OS map of 1843, nor is it depicted on the earliest mapping for the area—Richards & Scalé map of 1764—so it appears that it had been ploughed-out for many centuries.

Excavation commenced on 22 June and was completed by 28 August 2015. The ringfort was found to have a maximum diameter of 65m and was defined by a main (inner) ditch (Ditch C3)—the largest—which was up to 2m deep; a second concentric ditch (Ditch C4) which survived to a maximum depth of 0.8m; and an outer ditch (Ditch C5) which was defined by four individual ditch segments and varied in depth from 0.1m to 0.5m deep. Aligned gaps in Ditches C3 and C4 at the north-east of the ringfort indicated the location of the entrance causeway that provided access to the interior. Dry stone revetments which had been constructed across the terminals of Ditch C3 and Ditch C4 flanked the entrance. Large post-holes immediately outside of Ditch C4 and on the inner side of Ditch C3 at the entrance are interpreted as the foundations of gated entrance features.

The interior was occupied by structures (1 and 2), two souterrains (1 and 2) and a sunken structure plus numerous other pits, post-holes and linear features. Finds from these features (predominantly the sunken structure and Souterrain 1)—which include iron knives, fragments of glass beads and a rotary sharpening stone—are consistent with the suggested date of this ringfort which is the 8th–10th centuries AD.

A linear field ditch/boundary which extended south from Ditch C5 is a continuation of the linear ditch excavated in the Phase 1 Archaeological Area 1 excavations (14E0325). A cereal-drying kiln incorporated into the base of this ditch is also likely to be contemporary with the kilns excavated to the south in the Phase 1 area. A linear ditch also extended to the north of the ringfort, turning south-westwards further to the north, and is clearly the remnants of an early medieval field system contemporary with the ringfort. Other segmented ditches identified to the east and north are also possibly components of a contemporary field system.

All archaeologically significant features within Archaeological Area 1 were fully excavated.  Post-excavation analyses are ongoing.

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