Ring-ditch in Killegland

Situated on a slight rise at the tip of a low SE-NW spur and with the meandering W-E Broad Meadow River c. 150m to the W and N. Archaeological testing (05E1321) by S. Halliday (2007) in advance of a housing development identified numerous archaeological features some of which were investigated under the original licence (excavations.ie 2006:1496), but others, numbered Sites I and III, were resolved (excavations.ie 2006:1499) by J. Kavanagh (Kavanagh and Quine 2007) under a different licence (06E0871). Site I consists of two ring-ditches, and they might survive partially in a green area. Ring-ditch B is a circular area (int. diam. 19.2m E-W; 18.5m N-S) defined by a V-shaped ditch or fosse (max. Wth 1.2m; max. D 0.32m) that has an uncut entrance causeway (Wth 2.4m) with a metaled surface at S. The stone metaling extends off to the S (L 6.4m) and there was a shallow deposit of charcoal-flecked silty clay and burnt bone partially over the metaling in the E terminus of the fosse. The fosse was filled with charcoal-flecked silty clay from which sherds of coarse decorated pottery and flint flakes were recovered. An inner fosse (Wth 1.2m; D 0.6m) is U-shaped in plan (int. dims 9.4m N-S; 8.9m E-W) with a wide opening (Wth 6.6m) at NW that is probably due to the shallowness of the ditch running out in this area. There were no internal features, and ring-ditch A is just to the NW but its fosse is cut by the outer fosse of this ring-ditch. Four pits (dims 1.5-1.8m; D 0.25m) filled with charcoal-rich silty clay and traces of oxidized clay were 13-20m distant from the ring-ditches but produced no artefacts. (Kavanagh and Quine 2007) See the attached plan from Kavanagh and Quine 2007, fig. 5 Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 22 December 2021