County: Down Site name: High Trees, Donaghadee - Phases 3c, 3d, 5c, 5d
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: AE/21/008
Author: Jonathan Barkley
Site type: Early medieval rath/medieval motte
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 757941m, N 879860m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.642177, -5.552982
Test trenching within Phases 3c, 3d, 5c, 5d and part of 3a was carried out between the 22nd February 2021 and 2nd March 2021.
A large sub-circular enclosure, potentially an early medieval rath, was identified within three of the test trenches within Phase 3a. The area around this enclosure was then fully topsoil stripped to uncover its full extent and the site was subject to a programme of archaeological excavation.
The remaining trenches within Phases 3c, 3d, 5c and 5d did not produce anything of an archaeological nature.
The archaeological excavation of the enclosure took place between the 26th April – 9th July 2021 and uncovered a large sub-circular enclosure with a figure-of-eight house at its centre.
The enclosure appears to have originally been an early medieval rath, which was then recut and enlarged to create either a raised rath or, possibly, an Anglo-Norman motte. Early medieval coarse ware pottery and medieval glazed pottery were both present within the fills of the ditch.
Post-excavation analysis is currently ongoing.
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