What is recorded here

Ballynakelly holds a double-ditched enclosure where the outer square has rounded corners and the inner circle waits behind a possible stone gate. Charcoal, burnt clay, animal bone and iron slag fill its ditches, while kilns and a storage pit mark the ground where people cooked, stored and made things. A human burial and a dog covered in stones rest between the ditches, suggesting the site remained a place of memory as well as work.

Excavations in 2006 uncovered a double-ditched concentric enclosure(outer dims. L90m, Wth 70m; inner diam 40m). The outer enclosure was almost square in plan with rounded corners. The ditch (D 0.65m) was filled with charcoal and burnt clay in the E. The inner ditch (Wth 2-3m, D 1.45m) had large stones in the fill of its terminals suggesting a possible gate feature. Large quantities of disarticulated animal bone were recovered from the ditches. The interior contained curvilinear gullies which produced charcoal, animal bone and iron slag. It also identified a storage pit (DU021-106001-) a kiln in the SW of the site (DU021-106002-) and another possible kiln in the NW of the site (DU021-106003-). A Late medieval kiln was also found near the entrance of the inner enclosure(DU021-106004-). A human burial was uncovered between the inner and outer ditch(DU021-106-005-) and a stone-covered skeleton of a dog. Artefacts include five iron knifes and a number of iron objects dating to the Early Medieval period (Mc Carthy, c. 2009,122-123).

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