Embanked enclosure in Fourknocks,micknanstown (duleek Upper By., Clonalvy Par.)

This monument is described by Stout (1991, 259) as: This enclosure, first detected through aerial survey undertaken by Swan, is located on a north-facing slope above the River Delvin. The underlying geology is limestone and shale on which a grey-brown podzolic has developed. The ridge is crowned by the Fourknocks passage tomb (Hartnett 1957, 265). This monument is the smallest of a group of three enclosures 1.5km north-west of Fourknocks passage tomb. Heathtown (ME033-011----) is 1km to the west-north-west and Micknanastown (ME033-013----) is 625m to the north-west. A bank encloses a roughly circular area. It has a maximum overall diameter of 110m, an average height of only 0.5m and is 10-20m wide at its base. The interior is saucer-shaped, probably as a result of using materials scarped from the interior for the construction of the bank. There is no evidence for a ditch. Spot phosphate and magnetic susceptibility readings were high along the inside of the embankment, indicating the presence of burning or burial activity. In the north-north-west segment of the enclosure (283 degrees T) there is a 5m –wide break in the bank which is probably an original opening. (Thornton 1980, 90-1; Moore 1987, 40, No. 305) Date of revision: 10 January 2017