Enclosure — large enclosure in Piercetown (dunboyne By.)

Situated on a slight rise in a fairly level landscape. A gradiometer survey (06R0083) of a large area (c. 48 ha) in Piercetown and Craddockstown townlands identified areas with potential archaeological features, including two large enclosures in Piercetown and a smaller one in Craddockstown (Harrison 2006). Targeted archaeological testing (06E0635) by T. Bolger (2006) confirmed the presence of the two larger features but the smaller one was shown to be non-archaeological, although three other smaller concentrations of archaeological features were identified (excavations.ie 2006:1621). Systematic archaeological testing (16E0451) by Deirdre Murphy of the development area within Piercetown explored the larger enclosures (excavations.ie 2016:463). This programme also identified a third enclosure and three other potential, but smaller, archaeological areas. Four trenches and eight testing areas explored this enclosure (Site 2). The perimeter of this oval to sub-triangular area (max. ext. dims c. 80m E-W; c. 50m N-S) was identified in segments of the outer fosse (Wth of top 1.6-2.5m) which was only sectioned at one point (Wth of top 1.9m; D 0.57m) where it contained silty grey clay fills with moderate inclusions of charcoal and animal bone at its base. Internal ditches (Wth of top 1-1.25m) that appear to be unrelated to the defining enclosure ditch but were discernible in the gradiometer survey were also probed but only sampled at only one point (D 0.24m). A NE-SW ditch (Wth of top 2.14m; max. D 0.8m) just outside the enclosure to the SE was also sampled and contained grey clays with frequent inclusions of charcoal. The enclosure will be preserved as a green area. (Murphy 2016, 14) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 3 November 2021