Field system in Mullagh — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Mullagh holds a forgotten field system beneath a later burial ground, proving that the dead came to rest where people once farmed. Linear gullies and shallow ditches still mark the northern and southern edges of that older life. The largest ditch stretches about ninety metres across the low hill, while a second curves westward until graves cut through it. Fields first, death second: the land remembers both.

On a low hill in undulating pasture. Excavation in 2009 revealed evidence for possible medieval agricultural activity at and within a burial ground (LF013-146----). A series of linear gullies and shallow ditches aligned NW–SE was interpreted, largely on the basis of stratigraphic evidence, as the remnants of a field system that pre-dated the burial ground. The exposed length of the largest ditch was estimated at c. 90m. A second ditch (L 30m; Wth 1.4m; D 0.39m), curving at its W extent, was cut into by four of the graves. A series of isolated pits, post-holes and burnt spreads, of uncertain antiquity and function, were also excavated. A corn-drying kiln (LF013-148----) was also found at the W extent of the excavation (Hull 2009; Stephens 2009b, 2009c; pers. comm. M. Stephens). Compiled by: Patrick F. O'Donovan Date of upload: 22 November 2011

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