Kiln — pottery in Ballynabarny

This report concerns the excavation of archaeological remains and deposits in Ballynabarny townland, in areas to be affected by the proposed route of the N11 Road Scheme between Newtownmountkennedy and Ballynabarny. Testing carried out by Ruth Elliot in October 2001 (Excavations 2001, No. 1331, 01E0968) identified several areas of archaeological potential. These features all lay to the south of the existing route of the N11 and are grouped in this report in three areas, the eastern and western (02E0425) and south-western Areas (02E0609). All areas lay on the north- and north-east-facing slopes of a hill overlooking Rathnew and were contained within boundaries defined on the south by a minor road heading west toward Glenealy from Wicklow and on the north by the N11. Work in the eastern area involved the excavation and recording of two fulachta fiadh (WI025-064----; WI025-064001-) on the highest part of the slope, at 105–110m OD. The main feature of interest in the western area lay c. 60m down the slope at 99–101m OD. This was a medieval ditched enclosure, roughly rectangular with rounded corners, measuring c. 12m by 19m externally. This ditch formed a complete circuit. It had a maximum depth of c. 0.6m but was generally 0.3–0.4m deep, notably shallower on the downslope side (which may have allowed an entrance), and varied from 0.5m to 1m wide but was generally close to 1m. The ditch appeared to have been intended for drainage and a similarly profiled, straight, run-off channel was cut at the south-east corner, running down the slope. In the ditch fills were several patches of very dark, apparently heavily organic material, as well as more sterile backfill deposits. Such deposits were found elsewhere within the enclosure, sometimes in shallow cuts, and may be evidence of features constructed with turf foundations. The most conspicuous feature in the enclosure was an oval area of very heavily burnt, red, clayey sand that measured 2m by 1.5m, representing a hearth or kiln, with a narrow extension 1m long to one side, possibly representing a flue. This feature was surrounded by shallow occupation spreads with a high ash content, generally thinning away from the ‘hearth’ feature. The occupation spreads and other enclosure features contained around 2700 sherds of pottery, provisionally dated to the late 13th and early 14th centuries, several metal objects, and several hundred small stones apparently chosen away from the site for their shape and size, Brazil-nut shaped and 10–30mm long, possibly for some industrial purpose connected with pottery production. Obvious structural features such as post-holes were conspicuously absent from the enclosure, although there were two groups of small stake-holes, 60 in total, associated with the hearth. The quantities of pottery suggest that this enclosure may have been the site of a small rural pottery kiln. Several wide, shallow agricultural furrows of at least medieval and probably later date, cutting the enclosure features, suggest that this part of the site may have been heavily truncated by ploughing (Bennett 2004, 530). Date of upload: 24 October 2012