What is recorded here

In the fourteenth century, four deep pits replaced silted field ditches at Baltrasna, becoming the area's main water source. The largest pit, seven metres across, held a wooden mether and three stakes packed with stones, suggesting people stood at its edge to draw water or store goods. Animal bones, owl feathers, and medieval pottery filled the pits, while wheat, barley, and oats remained trapped in the organic silts. These medieval waterholes sat near older prehistoric features, linking daily life across centuries in one quiet place.

After the high medieval field ditches (ME045-033----) became largely silted, and probably sometime during the fourteenth century, four large pits were dug, the largest of which cut one of the silted ditches. The earliest pit (dims 5.5m x 3.06m; max. D 1.32m), filled with silts that produced a few sherds of Dublin-type fine ware, was cut on its N side by the largest pit (diam. 7m) that had steep sides (D 1.75m) except at SE where there was a gentler ramp. This pit was filled with silts that had a high organic content at the base where three stakes were secured with packing stones. A fragment of a wooden vessel in the form of a mether with only one surviving handle was recovered from the pit and produced a C14 date of 1270-1400 cal. AD. A radiocarbon date of 1420-1500 cal. AD was provided by a sample from a tertiary fill of this pit. Evidence of wheat, barley and oats was found as well as cattle, sheep and pig bones. The skeletal remains of a cat and at least one dog as well as owl bones were also recovered from upper fills. Another large pit (dims 6m x 3.5m; D 1.87m), 17m to the W had a flat bottom and was filled with silts that had a high organic content and produced medieval ceramics from the tertiary fills. An oval pit (dims 9.2m E-W; 2.3m N-S; max. D 1m) 13m further N had a single highly organic fill, produced one sherd of Leinster cooking ware, and yielded a C14 date of 1280-1400 cal. AD. These medieval waterholes had prehistoric predecessors (ME045-033005-) c. 30m to the N. (Fallon 2009, 40-44) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 17 December 2021

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.