Fairy fort / earthen ringfort in Moathill

INTRODUCTION: Situated on a knoll of the same ridge that is dominated by the motte (ME025-023001-) and c. 70m NW of it. Archaeological testing (97E0101) by T. C. Breen on a route of the inner relief road for Navan recovered human remains in two of his five test trenches that appear to have been buried in a crouched position (excavations.ie 1997:427). A geophysical survey (06R0004) by Nicholls and Shiel (2006) combined with archaeological testing (06E0024) by Donald Murphy (2006) identified three concentrations of archaeological features on another parallel route for the relief road that was slightly closer to the motte. These required full excavation within the road-take and were conducted as three separate excavations, although all are interconnected. SUMMARY: Site 1 was completely excavated (06E0274) within the road-take by A. Giacometti (2007) from April to June 2006 (excavations.ie 2006:1611) and consisted of the remains of a rath (ME025-081----). There were three ring-ditches (ME025-081002-) to the NE within a rectangular enclosure (ME025-081001-) with a large NNE-SSW boundary ditch (ME025-082----) at its E edge. Two structures (ME025-081003-) were recognised E of the boundary and an episode of metal-working (ME025-081004-) was conducted in an associated ditch. The rath extended into Site 2 which, together with Site 3, was excavated by S. Halliday (2009). Site 2 contained a ring-ditch (ME025-083----) and a small rectangular enclosure (ME025-083001-), both of which extended outside the excavated area to the W. Elements of a field system (ME025-082003-) extended between Sites 2 and 3. Site 3 was at the W base of the hill occupied by the motte and consists of a D-shaped or enclosure (ME025-084----) of early medieval date with an internal hut-site and two corn-drying kilns (ME025-084002-). Externally, there was a ring-ditch (ME025-084001-) with a central pit of early medieval date. Also, there were two large ditches relating to the large boundary (ME025-081----) and the field system (ME025-083002-) extending into Sites 2 and 1. (Giacometti 2007, 2011; Halliday 2009) The rath is a circular area (diam. c. 25m) defined by a curving ditch (Wth c. 1.22m; D c. 0.61m) NW-E-SSW that extended into Site 2 at its S extent and had eroded away SW-W, but much of the monument survives outside the road-take to the NW. This ditch followed a change in the natural soil from gravel inside to sandy clays outside, was V-shaped, and filled with three layers, the uppermost with animal bones probably representing occupation of the interior. An entrance gap (Wth 3.5m) at ESE was marked by a large pit (dims 4.7m x 1.8m; D 0.68m) on the S side and was crossed by a slot-trench (Wth 0.63m; D 0.25m). The pit had been burnt and from it four shallow ditches, two of which had also been burnt, extended. The pit appears to have cut most of these features. The curving ditch forming the E edge of this enclosure post-dated an earlier boundary ditch on roughly the same line that had a sharper angle at NE. About 4.6m inside the outer defining ditch was a slighter parallel ditch (Wth c. 0.72m; D c. 0.31m) that entered the excavated area from NW and terminated in line with the N side of the entrance gap. There was a single posthole between the termini of the inner and outer ditches at this point, perhaps a gate-stop. Within the inner ditch was an L-shaped and rounded ditch or slot-trench (Wth c. 1.02m; D c. 0.37m) which may have been part of a small structure or hut-site. Five deeply truncated fire-pits were found in the interior with fire-reddened bases and fills with ash and charcoal. One fire-pit was outside the enclosure and they could be the bases of kilns. See the attached images from Giacometti (2007, figs 2, 7) _01 Sites 1-3; _03 plan; from Halliady (2009, fig. 25) _02 detail of excavated features; Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload; 5 April, 2023 Giacometti, A. 2007 Site 1. Navan Inner Relief Road. Licence: 06E0274. Final unpublished report, Arch-Tech Giacometti, A. 2011 Exploring domestic and non-domestic space in an Early Medieval Landscape at Navan Moat, Co. Meath Ríocht na Mídhe, 22, 43-59. Nicholls, J and Shiel, D. 2006 Geophysical Survey of Navan Inner Relief Road Phase 2B. Licence: 06R0004. Unpublished report, TARGET Archaeological Geophysics Murphy, Donald 2006 Archaeological Assessment of the Navan Inner Relief Road, Phase 2 B. Licence: 06E0024 Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services Halliday, S. 2009 Navan Inner Relief Road Scheme, Sites 2 & 3. Licence: 06E0024. Final Excavation Report, Unpublished, Arch Tech