EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Meath
St. Anne’s Chapel (Randalstown td.), Co. Meath
Ecclesiastical Settlement
Grid reference: N84137144 (284138/271449)
SMR No: ME025-002
Excavation Licence No: N/A
Excavation Duration/Year: N/A
Site directors: E.P. Kelly (National Museum)
Excavations in advance of a development scheme by Tara Mines Ltd. occurred in the vicinity
of St. Anne’s holy well and chapel within the townland of Randalstown. The site was situated
close to the meeting point of the Blackwater and Boyne rivers. Further settlement evidence
in the townland consisted of two souterrains excavated by Kieran Campbell (1985:044,
1986:065). An early medieval enclosure was also excavated at Simonstown which borders
Randalstown townland to the east (Kelly 1975:033, 1981).
Sections of the ecclesiastical enclosure ditch revealed an area measuring approximately 90m
in diameter. The ditch was 4m wide and 2m deep. A number of internal curvilinear and linear
ditches were identified and at least five early medieval occupation phases were evident.
A cemetery containing at least 20 burials were concentrated in the area around the chapel
and some of these were interred during the early middle-ages.
Evidence of hearths and pits, which contained animal bone, indicates that occupation
occurred within the ecclesiastical enclosure. The wealth of the ecclesiastical site and its
inhabitants is attested by a range of artefacts including a penannular brooch, two buckles,
fragments of ringed pins, decorated mounts and a fragment of green glass which may have
come from a sub-Roman Gaulish cosmetic flask. Other indicators of foreign contacts and
trade included the presence of Late Roman Amphora (B ware) and E ware pottery sherds
and, dating a few centuries earlier, a Roman fibula. Iron slag was also found demonstrating
that ferrous metalworking occurred at Randalstown.
Only a small part of the site was excavated – less than a quarter – and St Anne’s was clearly
an affluent and important religious site located at a strategic location close to the point where
the Blackwater and Boyne rivers merge. The presence of the Roman fibula also suggests a
pre-ecclesiastical settlement element to the site.
(No plans were available for this site).
References:
Campbell, K. 1985:044. Randalstown, Co. Meath. www.excavations.ie.
Campbell, K. 1986:065. Randalstown, Co. Meath. www.exacvations.ie.
Kelly, E. P. 1975:032. Randalstown, Co. Meath. www.excavations.ie.
Kelly, E. P. 1975:033. Simonstown, Co. Meath. www.excavations.ie.
Kelly, E. P. 1976:020. Randalstown, Co. Meath. www.excavations.ie.
Kelly, E. P. 1981.
(ed.) Irish
Antiquity: Essays and Studies Presented to Professor M.J. O'Kelly, 67–77. Dublin. Four Courts
Press.
526