What is recorded here

Mud and limestone still hold the shape of a small room where Portmarnock people cooked, ate and discarded shells, bones, pottery and knives. It stood beside another structure within a ditched household plot, facing east through a gap marked by a spud stone. The settlement belonged to the later medieval period, radiocarbon dated mainly to the 16th and 17th centuries, and its six plots show that this was not a temporary camp but a lived-in neighbourhood.

An extensive later medieval settlement (c. 50-70m NS x 110m), containing six well-defined property plots, was excavated at Station Road, Portmarnock (Licence no. 08E0376). The six plots were defined by linear ditches and were separated into toft and croft areas by internal divisions. This structure was one of two (see DU015-136004-) identified within Plot 3 which was defined by a series of shallow inter-cutting ditches (14-16m EW x 60m). The toft contained the two structures, along with pits, gullies and wells. This rectangular structure (4m EW x 5.5m) was located 0.7m NW of the other structure (DU015-136004-) within the plot. Severely truncated, the surviving elements consisted of mud-bonded limestone walls and contained a well-defined hearth (0.6m diam.). The presence of a spud stone suggested an east-facing entrance. The interior of the structure was filled by accumulated domestic waste that consisted of food remains (seashells, butchered animal bone), medieval pottery, a glass bead, three knives and iron nails (Moriarty 2009, 50). Radiocarbon analysis suggests the main occupation of the settlement was in the 16th – 17th century (Moriarty 2009). Compiled by: Christine Baker Date of upload: 6 February 2015

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