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

Dublin
Flemington, Co. Dublin
Early Medieval Enclosure Complex
Grid reference: 31845 26385
SMR: N/A
Excavation Licence No: 05E0663
Excavation duration/year: 2005
Site director: T. Bolger (Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd.)
Excavations at Flemington – in advance of a housing development – revealed a Neolithic house,
Bronze Age activity in the form of burnt mound material and a multi-phase early medieval enclosure
complex. Areas of metalworking and cereal processing were also identified. Geophysical survey
revealed further and probable related archaeological activity to the north of the excavation (Fig. 118).
The site was situated on a ridge of high ground and its lower part may have been waterlogged in
antiquity.
The early medieval activity at Flemington consisted of a multi-phase ditched complex (Fig. 119). The
ditches varied in size and morphology and there was no indication of a central enclosure. Habitation
evidence was minimal and was suggested in the northern part of the site by occasional post- and
stake-holes and a couple of shallow slot trenches. The main settlement enclosure may have existed
beyond the excavated area. A short arc of curving ditch, approximately 3m wide and 2m deep, was
present at the northern part of the site and has been suggested as forming part of the main
settlement enclosure. However, a radiocarbon date of A.D. 894-998 from a primary fill suggests this
is a later feature. The earliest dated feature, A.D. 575-672, came from a ditch in the south of Area E.
Common to the ditches was evidence for re-cuts and modification, often with variation in size and
layout. The ditches were pronounced at the interface of the probable wetland and a palisade trench
was recorded in this area.
A variety of functions have been suggested for the ditches. Macro-fossil plant remains from the
primary fills of many of the ditches have been identified in significant quantities and represent seeds
from hedgerow-type plants. This suggests they functioned as field boundaries. That the ditches were
re-cut also lends support to their identification as boundary divisions over a long period. However,
other ditches contained metalling or cobbling at their bases which suggests another function. Others
terminated and opened out at the probable wetland area, or in other instances into a large pits or
cisterns. This indicates that water management and control was another function of the many multiphase
ditches at Flemington. A radiocarbon date of A.D. 690-877 was obtained from the primary fill
of a ditch which possibly drained water from a sub-triangular cistern that was approximately 10m
wide. Two sherds of E-ware (dated between the sixth and early eighth centuries) were retrieved
from deposits overlying the cistern, a metal pin (from a ringed pin) was discovered in its upper fills,
while the wooden hoop of a stave-built vessel came from its primary deposit. Similar cisterns or pits
with related ditches were recorded in other areas of the site.
Evidence for ironworking was identified solely from Area B and consisted of a series of small bowl
furnaces with associated pits. Approximately 30kg of metallurgical waste – mainly slag – came from
these features. Very little slag came from any other areas of the site.
A cluster of cereal-drying kilns were uncovered in Area C in proximity to the wetland area. They were
heavily truncated but one of the later examples was stone-lined and keyhole-shaped. The fill from
one was radiocarbon dated to A.D. 894-1020 which suggests it was contemporary with the curved
ditch to the north of the site. Another cluster of kilns was recorded in Area D. A possible related
feature in this area was a large irregular metalled surface located centrally which may have
functioned as a threshing floor. The upper stone of a rotary quern was found on its surface. Other
finds from this area included a number of possible iron knives.
Finds from the site were few and consisted of those already mentioned and some ringed pins which
came mainly from the ditch fills. The most distinctive artefact was s triangular mount with traces of
wood and leather which may once have been attached to a wooden box.
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