Cairn — burial cairn in Ballydawmore

Identified in centre-line testing (E4110) in advance of the M11 Gorey to Enniscorthy road scheme and set aside for resolution as a part of Ballydawmore 5 (Hardy et al. 2010, 82-3). It is situated on a slight rise in an undulating landscape with the headwaters of a small SE-NW stream c. 50m to the N. Full excavation (E4171) by L. Barker of an extensive area recorded two main phases – Neolithic and medieval, with a structure (WX020-109002-) and a burial cairn in the earlier phase, and an enclosure (WXX020-109003-) in the later. Beneath the cairn was a pit lined with stones, leaving a chamber (dims 1.5m NNW-SSE; 1m ENE-WSW; D 0.7m). This may have been partly lined with wood as two slot-trenches were recorded at the shorter ends. It might also have been roofed in wood as no roof-stone was recovered. The only content of the cist was a flint point (L 8.5cm) but flint debitage was found in the vicinity. The cist was covered by a small cairn (diam. c. 4m), but only the base survived. A possible cremation pit had been inserted into the remnants of the cairn. A cluster of post and stake-holes c. 5m to the W (WX020-109002-) represents contemporary activity and the cairn is within the N interior of the medieval rectangular enclosure (WX020-109003-). The pits (WX020-108----) are c. 150m to the NNW. (Ruttle and Rajic 2012; Barker 2013) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 28 November, 2013