Building in Clonee (dunboyne By.)

Archaeological testing (04E1383) by A. Hayden on a large development site of about 8 hectares (c. 20 acres) uncovered evidence of furrows at its N limit, and more complex evidence of medieval fields at its SW edge (Hayden 2004). Further excavation under the same licence (Hayden 2005) recorded this rectangular stone-walled structure, a kiln and a sod-walled structure (excavations.ie 2004:1207). Part of a rectangular stone-footed but clay-bonded building (int. dims 3.9m NW-SE; 2.8m NE-SW) was built at the SW corner of a rectangular cutting (dims 10m NE-SW; 6.5m NW-SE, max. D 0.45m) that had no other features. The SE and SW walls were stone-facings of the cutting but the other walls (Wth 0.75-0.8m) were free-standing and double-faced. The entrance may have been at the W angle since the SW wall-facing continued beyond the NW end of the building, perhaps forming an external porch. A small fire was lit on the subsoil before the laying of a clay floor (D 0.14m) which included two defleshed horse skulls and an animal leg bone in its composition. Over this floor was a grey silty clay (T 0.03m) beneath a compacted yellow clay (T 0.03-0.04m) which morphed into a slightly oxidised clay (T 0.03m) with charcoal flecks, but there was no hearth. No pottery was recovered from within the structure. The bases of two pits outside the SE wall were equally unrevealing, but the building was overlaid by the two systems of medieval furrows in the field system (ME051-044----). (Hayden 2005, 6-8) See the attached plan from Hayden (2005, fig. 6) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 9 November 2021