EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Limerick
Newtown, Co. Limerick
Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure
Grid Ref: R62555585 (162550/155850)
SMR No: N/A
Excavation Licence: 01E0214
Excavation Duration/year: 2001
Site Director: F. Coyne (Aegis Archaeology Ltd.)
Newtown A, excavated in advance of the proposed Limerick Southern Ring Road, revealed an
eighth/eleventh-century sub-triangular enclosure with internal buildings, pits and other
features (Fig. 194). Prior Bronze Age activity was represented by two houses situated to the
north of the enclosure as well as a flat cremation cemetery while the ditch of another
undated possible enclosure (Newtown E) was excavated 25m to the west. Newtown A was
previously unrecorded and discovered during test-trenching on a crest of a hill (30m OD) in
an otherwise generally low-lying landscape, east of Limerick city.
The first phase of activity appears to have centred on an early Bronze Age flat cemetery and
includes two houses (A and B), large pits and possible burnt mound material. Fragments of at
least seven funerary pots (Vase Urn tradition) containing the cremated remains of at least
three individuals were uncovered, mostly from a series of inter-cutting pits in the southwestern
corner of the early medieval enclosure.
Two roughly U-shaped buildings were excavated on the north side of the main enclosure and
appear to have been associated with the flat cemetery. They contained internal hearths and
were defined by slot-trenches and postholes. Prehistoric pottery were recovered from hearths
and pits associated with these structures. Three features- a pit with early Bronze Age pottery,
areas of burning with charcoal and cremated bone and a deposit of charcoal and burnt stonewere
uncovered to the immediate north of the main enclosure, 10m from the Bronze Age
structures.
Newtown A had maximum dimensions of 40m x 50m, and the enclosing ditch was V-shaped
in profile and averaged 3m in width. The basal fill of the enclosing ditch produced a calibrated
2Σ date of A.D. 778-1032. Charcoal from an upper fill of the enclosing ditch produced a
calibrated 2Σ date of A.D. 1018-1295 and may date the final levelling of the site. The ditch
was partly surrounded on its eastern and northern sides by a narrow trench (0.5m in width),
interpreted as an external palisade slot-trench. No earthen internal enclosing bank was
identified.
The eastern enclosure entrance was formed by a 5m wide un-dug portion of the ditch and
was revetted in places by stone facing. A series of postholes and a slot-trench were
excavated immediately inside the entrance and were interpreted as the remains of some form
of gatehouse. A cobbled area in the entranceway had been repaired or resurfaced on at least
one occasion.
A figure-of-eight structure comprising a large semi-circular structure with an attached
northern annex was situated in the centre of the enclosure. It was defined by a slot-trench
measuring a maximum of 11m by 9m internally. Charcoal from the slot-trench and from the
central oak post-hole produced calibrated 2Σ dates of A.D. 765-1017 and A.D. 855-1274.
A large number of pits and postholes were identified in the southern part of the interior of the
building which was partly delineated by a shallow east-west linear trench. Very little
stratigraphic evidence survived and no distinct occupation layers were identified within its
interior. The fill of the linear trench produced a green glass bead with yellow paste
herringbone decoration and a shallow pit north of this trench contained a dark blue glass
bead. A hone-stone was recovered from the building’s central post-hole. The slot-trench of
the building produced part of a glass armlet with white decoration, an iron knife, a socketed
iron implement, a flint scraper, some horse teeth and the top of an adult human skull (aged
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