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

Dublin
Barnageeragh, Co. Dublin
Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure and later Unenclosed Settlement
Grid reference: 323515 260882
SMR: N/A
Excavation Licence No: 06E0477
Excavation duration: April – August 2006
Site director: E. Corcoran (Archaeological Development Services Ltd.)
Barnageeragh, Skerries – excavated in advance of a development – was a multi-period site with
evidence for a possible Bronze Age house, burnt mounds, a ring-ditch with central crouched
inhumation, an early medieval settlement enclosure with an internal souterrain and possible dwelling,
two unenclosed souterrains, a pennanular enclosure, and later medieval structures (Fig. 109). The
site was located on a central high point on the coast. No radiocarbon dates are yet available for the
site.
The settlement enclosure was 22m in diameter and was situated on the south-facing slope of a low
hill (Fig. 110). No entrance was apparent so the enclosure may have been entered across the ditch by
wooden boards or some other means. The enclosure ditch showed evidence for both deliberate infilling
and natural silting and contained animal bone, shell, flint, metal, bone pins and two possible
whetstones.
A penannular enclosure was located north of the centre within the enclosure and measured
approximately 10m in diameter. The gap was present at the south-west. This potentially marks the
former presence of a dwelling within the enclosure – it may have functioned as a drainage gully
around the house – and animal bone, shell and part of a possible stone mould were recovered from
the ditch fill.
A drystone-constructed souterrain was located to the south just outside the entrance of the
pennanular enclosure and consisted of a single chamber and passage. The souterrain fills produced a
decorated bone comb, a possible whetstone, a small copper alloy disc and a worked stone.
Two shallow pits – possible hearths – were also situated within the settlement enclosure. Each
contained charcoal flecking and animal bone and struck flint was uncovered from one while shell
came from the other.
The enclosure ditch was re-cut to the north and west and this ditch also ran east from the enclosure
before it turned south. This effectively formed a small enclosure to the east of the settlement
enclosure which had an opening to the south. Finds from this ditch included animal bone, shell,
possible whetstones, bone pins and an enamelled copper alloy brooch which potentially dates
between the eighth and tenth centuries.
A gully, surrounding a possible stone sub-rectangular structure, was located 8m to the south of the
settlement enclosure. The wall survived as a double line of stones with a gap between them and may
have supported a sod or wooden wall. Some animal bone and pieces of struck flint were recovered
from the wall fill. Three postholes and a possible stone platform suggest that the structure had an
internal division. Its date is unknown but it may relate to either the later unenclosed souterrain phase
or some later medieval structures on the site.
A couple of unenclosed souterrains were identified to the west of the settlement enclosure on a
gentle slope at the bottom of a low hill (Fig. 111). Pits and possible hearths were also present in this
area. One of the souterrains cut a north-south field boundary which contained animal bone and struck
flints which demonstrates that the land was organised prior to the souterrain’s construction. Both
souterrains were drystone constructions and their entrances faced each other. In between were a
number of pits, hearths and postholes which contained animal bone and shells. The western
souterrain consisted of a long passage that was connected to a circular chamber with a small pit in
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