Passage tomb in Dowth

Situated at a high point towards the E end of the broad ENE-WSW ridge of Dowth, at a point that was later chosen for the construction of Dowth Hall c. 1744-1765 when the tomb had already probably been dismantled. Dowth Hall is a five-bay by four-bay, two storey over basement and attic Georgian mansion that was built for the fifth and sixth Viscounts Netterville. It was developed further in the nineteenth century with the addition of a conservatory to the S on older foundations and the addition of a detached sunken kitchen to the N. In the mid-nineteenth century the grounds immediately outside were landscaped into two terraces by adding hahas c. 20 and c. 40m from the walls of the Hall. Archaeological monitoring (17E0242) by C. Ní Lionáin (2018, 2021) identified significant prehistoric remains around the Hall to the S and W as well as structural features relating to the Hall (excavations.ie 2018:174), and these were fully investigated by the same archaeologist under the same licence from August 2017 to mid-February 2018 (excavations.ie 2019:734). Smaller investigative trenches c. 14m NW (Area 5) and c. 12m N (Area 4) of Dowth Hall identified what might be kerbstones of smaller satellite tombs, although it is possible that these might relate to the large passage tomb beneath Dowth Hall. The stone with passage tomb art (ME020-080----) that came to light in 2014 probably derived from this tomb. The house had interesting sub-surface features including a basement extending outside its footprint along the W side, with servants’ tunnels approaching from the S and W. What is called the bowed projection is a semi-circular feature (ext. dims 8.25m ENE-WSW; 4.15m NNW-SSE) that was S of the Hall. It was built with thick masonry walls (Wth 1.35-1.45m; surviving H 2m) and had an internal lime floor. There is an embrasure (Wth 1.2m) at S that was adapted into a mural passage turning W and N to connect with the 18th century basement. Externally, the wall has a plinth (Wth 0.65-1.4m; H 2.2m) and the feature appears to have been built over by the S wall of a nineteenth century plinth that was added to the Hall for the conservatory but it wasn’t possible to clarify the relationships between these walls. CAIRN: The remains of a large cairn (diam. c. 38-53m; max. H c. 1.1m at S to c. 1.6m at NW) were uncovered around the S and W edges of Dowth Hall. It was composed of angular stones that had a thin layer of yellow clay at its base representing the original old ground surface, although introduced sods provided a prepared surface for the cairn. There were six surviving greywacke kerbstones at the S edge, three in situ, although two cairns relating to the two chambers discovered might be present as differences in the cairn material were noted. The kerbstones form a straight line and here the cairn had been capped with a layer of quartz stones, some of which had been redeposited in the filling of the closed S servants’ tunnel but at the two chambers the cairn had water-rolled stones over more angular stones. The straightness of the kerb and the capping of quartz may indicate the nearby presence of an entrance passage of which there is no other evidence. The kerbstone K2 has one large surface almost completely covered with concentric circles and spirals and two other kerbstones have faint motifs. There were slips of cairn material over the kerbstones that covered two possible stone-settings and an E-W ditch (Wth c. 1m) that had an inserted cremation burial with the remains of three individuals. Possible Beaker pottery is found in this area which is pre-dated by three episodes of cairn slip and post-dated by three others (Ní Lionáin 2022). (Ní Lionáin 2018, 56-64) TOMB 1: The two chambers within the cairn were c. 17m apart. At NW Tomb 1 was beneath an overburden of builder’s rubble (D c. 1.6m) and the cairn had some quarries in its upper surface but it was originally capped with a layer of water-rolled stones (max. T 0.94m) in this area. The tomb consists of portion of a stalled chamber (dims 3.75m NW-SE; 1.7m NE-SW) represented by 12 structural stones, seven in situ, forming three stalls, one with a backstone, but a passage has not been identified. The stones are all local greywacke with one volcanic tuff and no roofstones are identified. Five stones have isolated motifs either pecked or scratched into their surfaces, one being an elaborate design of opposed nested Vs meeting at their apex where there are two horizontal lines. About 40% of the structural stones of this chamber have some art and c. 70% of the kerbstones also have art (Ní Lionáin 2022a). The chamber was filled with cairn material and an old ground surface has been identified together with burnt and unburnt human remains. Within and around one of the stalls natural stone concretions were set as a floor. An adult female mandible from the central chamber floor provided a C14 date of 3191-3009 cal. BC (BS420) (Ní Lionain 2022). The entire cairn may have been ritually destroyed in the Late Neolithic when human remains were carefully placed in this chamber after its roofing was removed. A partial female skull that was placed upside down at the entry to a stall had adult and juvenile finger bones in the cavity but the skull provided a radiocarbon determinations of 2492-2280 cal. BC (BS255). An isolated mandible, placed with equal care further W, yielded a nearly identical C14 date of 2474-2266 cal. BC (BS291), placing both and the likely slighting of the tomb in the Chalcolithic or Copper Age. (Ní Lionáin 2018, 36, 40-46) TOMB 2: At SW Tomb 2 was a subcircular chamber (dims 5.2m NW-SE; 4.5m NE-SW) with 14 surviving structural stones, six in situ, and a few courses of drystone walling W-N that probably relates to a later souterrain (ME020-098001-). One possible roofstone of sandstone is present with cup-marks on its underside but all the other stones are greywacke, two with slight incised motifs and another with patches of stippling. A passage is not identified but two stones projecting E from the chamber may be from a side-chamber (dims 1.4m N-S; 1.3m E-W) and was the only area partially excavated, but there may be original deposits beneath the cairn material closing the chamber. The cairn here was beneath an overburden of builders’ rubble (T c. 1.3m) and there were some quarries in its upper surface. (Ní Lionáin 2018, 37-8, 47-55) See the attached views and plans courtesy of Clíodhna Ní Lionáin: _1 Vertical photograph of Dowth Hall by Ken Williams (21/12/2021). N at left; _2 Site plan; _3 Vertical view of kerbstones at S by Ken Williams. N at right; _4 Kerbstone K2 looking W. Photograph by Ken Williams. _5 Plan of Tomb 1; _6 Vertical view of Tomb 1 by Ken Williams; _7 Tomb 1 looking ENE by Ken Williams; _8 Vertical view of Tomb 2 by Ken Williams; Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 12 October 2022