Concentric enclosure in Barnhill,ranelagh

Located on a slight rise which is on a gentle NE-facing slope. A remote sensing survey (15R0052) (Bonsall and Gimson 2015) identified a complex enclosure at Area 4 of a 2.5km road improvement scheme on the N61 road about 1.7km N of the northern edge of Roscommon town. Archaeological testing (15E0136) of the N-S road-take containing Ranelagh 1 confirmed the complex nature of the enclosure and recovered human remains (O’Connell 2015). The monument was completely excavated within the road-take under the same licence by Shane Delaney assisted by Muireann Ní Cheallachain between October 2015 and October 2016 (Delaney and Ní Cheallacháin 2017). It consists of a multivallate circular enclosure with three enclosing fosses. Included within the road-take are two small souterrains (RO039-102002-; RO039-102003-), four kilns (RO039-102004-), a possible well (RO039102005-), pits and hearths (RO039-102006-), although no house or hut-site has been identified. A fourth subrectangular enclosure surrounds a Cillín or Childrens’ burial ground (RO039-102007-), consisting of concentrations of infant burials from the upper levels of a more extensive burial ground with adult inhumations (RO039-102001-). In all, 551 articulated burials and 242 disturbed deposits of bones were recorded. Some field drains may be contemporary with the multivallate enclosure, notably at least five ditches extending radially from Enclosure A towards Enclosure C, although exact connections with these features are not made, and externally some field drains are thought to be part of a contemporary field system. A later trivallate enclosure (RO039-102008-) is attached to the NW of the outermost enclosing fosse of the concentric enclosure. A sixth to eleventh century date for the primary activity is indicated. The central and probably the earliest enclosure (A) is a circular area (int. diam. c. 32m) defined by a fosse (max. Wth 2.6m; max. D 1.5m), with an unexcavated causeway (Wth 2m) at SSE. Two clusters of three post-holes each at the inner end of the causeway may have formed a gateway, perhaps renewed twice. The ditch was filled with some slippage from both sides together with some redeposited habitation material, but most of the fill was fairly sterile clay that was probably a deliberate backfill. A strip (Wth 3m), devoid of features, inside the fosse suggests that it had an inner bank. A short section of the fosse was re-cut (Wth 2.2m; D 0.8m; L 17.1m) on the outside at NNW, and a second fosse (Wth 2m; D 1m) loops out from the original fosse at NE, and runs past the entrance to a point at SW, leaving a corridor (Wth 2.5-5m; L 30m) leading from the SW to the entrance. This fosse, which was deliberately backfilled, cuts a slighter, earlier feature on the same line. Surrounding Enclosure A was Enclosure B, which may be an earlier or later phase of Enclosure A, and it is represented by a narrower excavated fosse (Wth 1.2m; D 0.7m) at N and S. These are connected on the W side of the road-take as shown by the geophysical survey, but on the E side the continuity is interrupted by a N-S field wall. This fosse was backfilled with silty clays that contain various amounts of animal bone, and it may have been remodelled at S. Enclosure A is N of the centre of this oval enclosure (dims c. 70m E-W; c. 55m N-S) that has not got a very prominent fosse, and this has a large gap (Wth c. 25m) at NNW. The third enclosure (C) is oval (int. dims c. 90m E-W; 65m N-S) and encompasses B but is not concentric with it. Enclosure C is defined by a substantial U-shaped ditch (max. Wth 3.75m; max. D 1.5m), and there may be an entrance at NW, at the edge of the road-take. The ditch was filled with silty or sandy clay fills that produced iron pins, nails, and sheet metal as well as bone objects and fragments of quernstones. The fosse also yielded sherds of North Devon gravel-free ware, and the uppermost fill produced sherds of black glazed red earthenware, providing a late seventeenth or eighteenth century date for its final closing. (Delaney and Ní Cheallacháin 2017, 10-13) See the attached plan from Delaney and Ní Cheallacháin 2017, Fig. 4 Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 12 January, 2016 Amended: 8 December 2020