EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Antrim
Ballypalady, Co. Antrim
Early Medieval Settlement Enclosures.
Grid Refs: J26537831 (32653/37831) & J26588733 (32658/38733)
SMR No. ANT 051:015; ANT 051:016
Excavation Licence: N/A
Excavation Duration/Year: June – July 1957.
Site Director: D. M. Waterman (Historic Monuments Branch, Ministry of Finance).
The site consists of a cluster of enclosures. Ballypalady 2 (ANT 051:015), an approximately
D-shaped trivallate enclosure, and Ballypalady 3 (ANT 051:016), a bivallate enclosure (Fig.
10).
The inner ditch of Ballypalady 2 had been subjected to at least two re-cuttings; and the
ditches between the outer banks had also been re-cut. Two buildings – a circular house; and
a stone-and-timber rectangular structure – were uncovered in the interior (Fig. 11). The
circular post-built house was approximately 7m in diameter, but had no associated hearth or
occupation debris, suggesting that the original floor surface had been lost. The stone-andtimber
structure was interpreted as a byre, however a large number of souterrain ware
sherds, two glass beads and the stem of a bronze pin were found in the occupation debris
associated with this building. It has been argued, on typological grounds, to be later than the
circular house.
A series of storm-water gullies drained the surface of the interior. These contained patches of
carbonised wood, an occasional sherd of souterrain ware and fragmentary animal teeth.
The entrance to Ballypalady 3 was cobbled, and traces of a dry-stone walled structure were
found within the interior. A few sherds of souterrain ware were recovered from between this
structure and the inner face of the bank.
Fig. 11: Plan of Enclosure Group at Ballypalady (after Waterman 1972).
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