Discover Alone, back to main map

Hut site in Grange (navan Lower By.)

Hut site

What is recorded here

That is the largest chamber recorded at Grange, a circular dwelling thirty metres west of the main assembly where a young man died young and was buried beneath the floor. The chamber contained a complete dressing kit, a bronze knife at the wrist, a gold torque around the neck and a polished stone mace beside the legs. The man was probably a founder or leader because he received the full ceremonial treatment that ordinary workers did not. His body marked the place before the first stone chamber was built above it.
Structure 1 is just 9m N of Structure 2. It is a circular area (ext. diam. c. 8m) defined by a series of twelve pits within which was a circle of ten postholes spaced c. 2m apart (diam. c. 5.2m). There is an entrance porch (L c. 1.3m; Wth c. 0.7m) at ESE formed by two pits, but the pits (diam. 0.41m; D 0.3m to dims 2.5m x 0.65m; D 0.25m) were largely absent SW-NW. The pits had evidence of burning, probably marking its abandonment, and one (dims 1.6m x 1.2m; D 0.3m) contained a large polished stone axe (L 0.23m), a saddle quern, a grinding stone and a rubbing stone, while seven sherds of pottery came from other pits. Only a small quantity of cereals were noted in the charcoal samples that were dominated by hazel, and a sample of hazel from one of the external pits returned a C14 date of 1520-1310 cal. BC (SUREC 29331) that was corroborated by a fragment of burnt bone from another of 1499-1415 cal. BC (UBA 12937). The only internal feature was a cluster of nine stakeholes inside the perimeter at S and there was no internal hearth although a burnt pit (dims 1.4m x 0.58m; D 0.1m) c. 6m to the S and about 2m N of the other hut-site could have been a hearth and been relevant to both structures. The porch opened onto an area with four small metalled surfaces (diam. 0.5m; T 0.25m to diam. 1.4m; D 0.15m) and eight larger ones (dims 3.3m x 1.4m; D 0.13m to diam. 3m; T 0.1m) which were largely concentrations of a widespread stony surface that was filling hollows and the porch itself had a stone surface. The external surfaces were working areas and fragments of two querns were in the surfaces and some pottery sherds were also recovered from them. There was a concentration of some postholes and stakeholes at one point but the area also had some unassociated pits that may have been relevant, including one (dims 2.28m x 1m; D 0.1m) with Middle Bronze Age pottery sherds. Some features pre-dated the surfaces, including a small pit (diam. 0.2m; D 0.03m) that had a perforated stone with a milled edge that is interpreted as a spindle whorl. The hut-site was cut by a N-S post-medieval ditch (Wth 0.9m; D 0.55m) that also cut the other hut-site. (Kelly 2010, 6-15) See the attached plans adapted from Kelly (2010, figs 6, 8) ME024-035_1 Site plan; ME024-035004-_1 Monument plan; Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 24 March 2022

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

What survives
Recorded monument

Places near here

Add to this placeAdd a picture Comment or add a tip

Explore 1,118,481 places