Enclosure — large enclosure in Castlefarm

Situated on a low E-W ridge. Centre-line testing (04E0485) by R. O’Hara (2004) of two fields in Testing area 1 of the Dunboyne link road (R157) to the M3 (excavations.ie 2004:1198) confirmed the presence of archaeological features where magnetic susceptibility and gradiometer surveys (06R0038) by J. Nicholls (2006) had already identified numerous anomalies. The area within the road-take was completely excavated (E003023) by A. O’Connell (O’Connell and Clark 2009) who uncovered a complex of monuments dating from at least the Early Bronze Age up to the high medieval period (excavations.ie: 2005: AD5; 2006:1525). SUMMARY: The monument consists of a large bivallate enclosure with a small D-shaped annexe (ME050-048005-) attached to the S of the outer fosse at SW. The enclosure and annexe were later incorporated together into a large rectangular enclosure. Stratigraphic relationships are difficult to establish outside the fosses of the enclosures themselves but an early feature is a ring-ditch (ME050-048001-). Twelve burials (ME050-048006-) and ten wells or water-holes (ME050-048002-) were also recorded in addition to two corn-drying kilns (ME050-048003-) and evidence of metalworking (ME050-048004-). The monument was deeply truncated by later ploughing and only the lowest levels of features survived, largely in the space between the inner and outer fosses of the large enclosure. The bases of 21 pits in the interior and 25 pits between the fosses were also recorded but positive evidence of houses is lacking. However, the artefacts and the environmental evidence recovered indicates a settlement, perhaps with a burial ground, and house structures may survive in the unexcavated E portion of the interior. Although some Neolithic flints were present and a concentration of early pits occurs inside the inner enclosure, the earliest structure was one of the water-holes dating from the Early Bronze Age followed by the Iron Age ring-ditch, which together constitute PHASE 1, but the inter-related complex of enclosures dates from the beginning of the fifth century AD to the end of the eleventh, and its form evolved in Phases 2 to 6. PHASE 2: The enclosure was established by digging the inner ditch around a large D-shaped area (int. dims c. 85m ENE-WSW; c. 58m NNW-SSE) with the straight side at N, although only the W half of the enclosure was within the road-take and the excavation. This is Phase 2, and the E part was recorded in a gradiometer survey (06R0038) which noted additional entrances in the outer fosse at N and SE (Nicholls 2006). The inner fosse is most massive (Wth of top 2m; D 1.35m) E of the entrance causeway (Wth 3.2m) at SW, and it is narrowest (Wth of top 1-1.4m; D 0.4-0.8m) where it was cut through a stonier boulder clay W of the causeway. The ditch E of the causeway had three fills, all of which had accumulated gradually, and had a plentiful supply of animal bone. A sample from the primary fill produced a C14 date of 434-640 cal. AD and numerous artefacts were recovered from the top fill, including a bone knife handle with ring and dot decoration, iron knife blades, a copper-alloy spiral-ringed pin, bone pins, iron ring-pins and an iron sewing needle. There was also charcoal, burnt bone, clay and metal slag, which might all be connected with a smithing hearth 18m W of the inner enclosure ditch. West of the causeway the ditch had 14 contexts, most of which accumulated gradually at the base of the ditch, but two consisted largely of redeposited boulder clay at the inner edge of the ditch and may be from a levelled inner bank. The remains of a young adult male were extended E-W in the supine position at the top of the fill, but the head was missing. A sample from the left tibia yielded a C14 date of 428-607 cal. AD. Significant amounts of animal bone were present in many of the layers and, although artefacts were fewer, metal slag was also present. The first recut of the inner enclosure followed the original line of the fosse but was not as deep and left the SW causeway in place. East of this feature the cut (Wth of top 1.5-2.4m; D 0.3-1m) had two fills that were naturally accruing but with some dumped material. It produced a wide range of artefacts and a large amount of animal bone. A sample from the primary fill had a radiocarbon date of 653-750 cal. AD. West of the causeway the first recut (Wth of top 0.8-1.55m D 0.2-0.8m) was not as deep as the original ditch. Most of the thirteen fills were natural accumulations but four consisted of redeposited boulder clay at the inner edge of the ditch. It produced a wide range of artefacts and had a plentiful supply of animal bone. A large oval pit (dims 4.5m NW-SE; 2.42m NE-SW; max. D 0.94m) cut through the ditch at N and was filled almost entirely with animal bone, but metal slag and a bone pin were also retrieved from it. (O’Connell and Clark 2009, 9-10) A second recut (Wth 0.6-1.5m; D 0.12-0.53m) W of the retained causeway at SW was limited (surviving L 24m) and had 13 naturally accumulating fills with the same range of artefacts although with the addition of a bone comb and a quernstone fragment. There was a significant amount of animal bone, and the remains of an adult female (25-30 years old at death) was in a W-E supine position with the head at W in the fosse. A sample from the right femur produced a C14 date of 668-870 cal. AD. East of the causeway a second recut (Wth of top 0.9-2.2m; D 0.3-0.76m) was also limited (surviving L 33m) and produced the same range of artefacts with the addition of a spindle whorl and more fragmented iron objects including nails. A sample of charcoal from the primary fill of this recut yielded a C14 determination of 678-774 cal. BC. There was a third recut (Wth 0.5-0.8m; D 0.42-0.5m) in Phase 6 limited (L 11.5m) to an area 13m NW of the causeway. It had three dumped layers and produced copious amounts of animal bone, but metal slag, burnt clay and charcoal were more prevalent in its primary layer. Six sherds of high medieval pottery, thought to have come from the original ditch in this area, may be from this recut. A little more than half the animal bones recovered in the excavation were retrieved from this ditch and its recuts, and the age of slaughter amongst cattle indicates a dairy economy. (O’Connell and Clark 2009, 11-12) PHASE 3: An outer fosse was added in a second phase of the large enclosure’s development. Around the E and S of the monument it is separated by a narrow berm (Wth c. 1-2m) from the inner fosse, but S-W-NE a wider berm (Wth 7-18m) intervenes and the outer fosse encloses a larger area (dims 110m E-W; 90m N-S). A D-shaped annexe (int. dims c. 28m E-W; c. 25m N-S) was subsequently attached to the W end of the S side, constituting PHASE 4. However, the outer enclosure ditch and that of the annexe were re-cut together in PHASE 5 with the result that the original outer enclosure ditch (Wth of top 2-2.75m; D 0.75-0.95m) of Phase 3 only survives in its original form (L 37m) where the annexe is attached. Its 16 fills included two compacted stony dumped layers in a limited area (Wth of top 1.5m) that could have formed a causeway into the annexe. The usual range of artefacts was recovered but also a baluster-headed pin and an iron omega-headed pin dating from the seventh to the tenth centuries. A small amount of slag and some animal bone were also recovered, and a sample from the basal fill produced a C14 date of 720-875 cal. AD. Six pits and a kiln cut or partially cut the backfilled ditch, and two burials, of an infant and a juvenile aged c. 6-8 years, were inserted into the topmost fills, perhaps the remnants of a childrens’ burial ground. (ibid. 12-14) The re-cutting of the outer ditch of the large enclosure incorporated the annexe and created an even larger enclosure (dims 115m N-S; 100m E-W) defined by a fosse with a likely SE entrance and constitutes PHASE 5. The original ditch (D 1.2-1.8m) of this phase varied in width and depth and drained aw