County: Waterford Site name: Gallows Hill, Dungarvan
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WA031-067 Licence number: 17E0245
Author: Dave Pollock
Site type: Motte
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 625090m, N 593240m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.090509, -7.633867
With the help of the Royal Irish Academy’s Archaeological Research Excavation Grant scheme the 2019 excavations at Gallows Hill, Dungarvan, continued the investigation (T2) on top of the mound and cut a trench (T4) at the foot of the east side.
Further inhumations were found on the mound (T2), aligned in various directions. It now appears that all human remains found in 2018 and 2019 are from sporadic burials probably associated with hangings on the mound. The shallower burials have been disturbed, perhaps accidentally during landscaping. Bone samples from 2019 provided radiocarbon dates in the 16th or 17th centuries AD (UBA-42275, -42276). Isotope analysis suggests the samples are from people who lived in the locality
All material cut by the graves is now considered part of an original layered mound, remodelled in the 16th or 17th century when the burials were taking place. Little or no remains of original wooden superstructures were identified.
On the east side of the mound (T4) two large ditches were found, with early bank material between. The inside ditch may predate the mound, and charcoal from the fill produced radiocarbon date ranges in the 5th and 6th centuries AD (UBA-42007, -42008).
A further season of limited investigations is planned, to clarify the dates and development of the site.
Knockrower Road, Stradbally, Co. Waterford.
