Habitation site in Balfeaghan

Situated on a rise of a gentle S-facing slope and on the W side of the NW-SE R158 road, across from the parish church of Balfeaghan (ME049-017----). Archaeological testing (06E1231) by A. Collins in advance of a realignment of the road identified archaeological features (Collins 2008, 19-20) that were subsequently excavated (07E0295) as Site 14 by the same archaeologist (excavations.ie 2007:1256). The glebe, represented only on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map, is not specifically recorded in documentary sources until the mid to late seventeenth century when Bishop Henry Jones (1661-82) records ‘a house and garden with one acre glebe’ at Balfeaghan, and Bishop Dopping records ‘no glebe, a house and garden’ in 1682-5 (Ellison 1972, 5-8). The glebe is not specifically mentioned thereafter, which may mean that it was no longer economically significant or that the Church no longer owned the land, although as a feature of the landscape it persists into the nineteenth century (Collins 2009, 11-13). The earliest excavated feature is a NW-SE drain (Wth 1.45m; max. D 1m; L 27m plus) on the line of the NE boundary of the small glebe (dims c. 75m NW-SE; c. 35m NE-SW) depicted on the 1836 edition of the OS 6-inch map. The ditch contained three fills but no artefacts were recovered. A sample of carbonised grain from a secondary fill yielded a C14 determination of 660-780 cal. AD, which could suggest that the church and its glebe may have an early medieval origin, but it is more likely that the grain is residual. A re-cut of the ditch (Wth 1.15m; D 0.24m) on the same line produced 21 sherds of high medieval wares (ibid. 18). A contemporary ditch (Wth 1.05m; D 0.48m) ran E from it with the same range of ceramic material. The SW end of a small rectangular enclosure (max int. dims c. 7m NW-SE; 5m plus NE-SW) defined by ditches (max. Wth 1.6m; max. D 0.6m) abuts the long glebe boundary on its NE side. The two lower fills of the ditches contained medieval pottery but post-medieval wares, including pearlware, red-glazed and black-glazed earthenware and a clay pipe stem appear in the upper fill. A ditch (Wth 1.2m; D 0.27m) extended NW from its W corner, parallel with and c. 1-2m from the earliest glebe ditch. Its fills produced sherds of the usual high medieval wares. The rectangular enclosure may represent a small plot, perhaps adjoining a cottage at the roadside and is the major phase present, although no evidence of such a cottage was present on site. (ibid. 19-22) Two parallel NE-SW ditches, c. 1m apart, cut the later of the NW-SE ditches at the N extent of the excavated area. The fills contain high medieval wares with some metal slag. A ditch on a similar alignment c. 22m further S probably originated with the SW ditch of the small enclosure, but the conjunction was obscured by a curving ditch (Wth 1.45m; D 0.4m), C-shaped in plan, that extends SE and curves NE, cutting all earlier features and is almost the last event on site. Its one fill had a mix of medieval and post-medieval wares, including single sherds of Merida ware and creamware. Coeval with this, and parallel with its NE-SW course, is a shallow gully (Wth 0.9m; D 0.28-0.52m) that produced a C14 determination of 1460-1640 cal. AD from a sample of carbonised grain. (ibid. 23-7) Post-medieval features include an L-shaped trench (Wth 0.5m; D 0.2m) consisting of an E-W arm curving into a N-S arm at its E end. A short drain runs S into the interior from the E-W arm. Some flagstones (dims 3.2m x 1.8m) over the trench at the corner could be an entrance to the structure. The ceramics from the trench are largely medieval but later wares and a fragment of a clay pipe are also present. These features cut the defining ditch of the small enclosure. At the SW edge of the excavated area a new ditch (max. Wth 1.2m; max. D 0.9m) on the same NW-SE alignment of the earlier major drains but c. 7m to the SW has two fills and yielded 187 sherds of exclusively post-medieval pottery as well as a clay pipe stem and 16 glass fragments. Two smaller E-W gullies undoubtedly fed into it. (ibid. 27-35) In the later Middle Ages the plot was replaced by ditches yielding Dublin fine and coarse wares that are probably further iterations of the glebe boundary that came to be represented on the map. A carbonised grain from a gully produced a radiocarbon determination of 1450-1640 cal. AD. A final phase is represented by a ditch on the line of the NE boundary of the mapped glebe. Related features included slot-trenches and a possible brick hearth and paved surface which is probably the structure depicted on Larkin’s map of 1812 and the 1836 OS 6-inch map. See the attached plan from Collins (2009, fig. 2) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 29 June 2021