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AR01055_EMAP_Gazetteer_of_Sites_4-2_10.pdf - The Heritage ...

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Down<br />

Duneight, Co. Down<br />

Early Medieval Raised Enclosure.<br />

Grid Ref: J27776078 (32777/36078)<br />

SMR No: DOW 014:028<br />

Excavation Licence: N/A<br />

Excavation Duration/Year: September 1961<br />

Site Director: D.M Waterman (for the Archaeological Survey <strong>of</strong> Northern Ireland).<br />

<strong>The</strong> site, a motte-and-bailey castle, was to be partially destroyed during farm improvements. During<br />

excavation it became apparent that the site had been re-used through different archaeological<br />

periods. A Bronze Age burial was uncovered on the ridge, and the site was turned into an enclosure<br />

during the early medieval period, before being re-modelled by the Anglo-Normans.<br />

Excavations in the Anglo-Norman bailey revealed an earlier enclosure (60m by 39m) within a bank<br />

(2.1m-2.4m high, and up to 6.6m wide), with some evidence for a further external ditch to the east<br />

(Fig. 96). Three structures were uncovered in the interior, although only one (Building A) was fully<br />

excavated (Fig. 97). This building was <strong>of</strong> dry-stone construction and would appear to have been subrectangular<br />

in shape. As with the other two structures, souterrain ware was found in association with<br />

this building.<br />

<strong>The</strong> bottom <strong>of</strong> the inner ditch was waterlogged and produced a layer <strong>of</strong> peat, 0.6m thick, which<br />

contained animal bones and pieces <strong>of</strong> wood. <strong>The</strong> occupation layer in the ditch contained a few sherds<br />

<strong>of</strong> souterrain ware, and more burnt and un-burnt animal bone. <strong>The</strong> shallower outer ditch also<br />

produced numerous sherds <strong>of</strong> souterrain ware, along with pieces <strong>of</strong> a clay crucible and lumps <strong>of</strong> iron<br />

slag. A series <strong>of</strong> palisade trenches around the entranceway, and also along the river front, were also<br />

excavated, from which souterrain ware and fragments <strong>of</strong> a jet bracelet were recovered.<br />

Fig. 96: Excavations at Duneight, Co. Down (after Waterman 1963, facing 74).<br />

197

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