Archaeological Excavation Report E0476 - Bricketstown, Co. Wexford, Ireland - EAP Journal

Issue 4 [ISSN 2009-2237]

Archaeological Excavation ReportE0476 - Bricketstown, Co. Wexford

Kiln, field systems, hearth, work surface

Eachtra Journal

The Forge,Innishannon, Co. Cork.Tel.: 021 470 16 16Fax: 021 470 16 28E-mail: [email protected] Site: www.eachtra.ie

Contact details:

December 2009

Written by:

Client:

Archaeological Excavation Report,N25 Rathsillagh to Harristown RealignmentBricketstown Co. Wexford

Kiln, field systems, hearth, work surface

Wexford County Council,c/o Tramore House Road Design Office, Tramore,Co. Wexford

00E0476

Daniel Noonan

Daniel Noonan and Penny Johnston

Licence No.:

Licensee:

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00E0476 Bricketstown, Co. Wexford ISSUE 4: Eachtra Journal - ISSN 2009-2237

Permalink: http://eachtra.ie/index.php/journal/e0476-bricketstown-co-wexford/

Table of Contents

1 Summary ............................................................................................................1

2 Introduction .......................................................................................................1

3 Description of Development ...............................................................................1

4 Background to the excavation area ......................................................................1

5 Archaeological & Historical Background ............................................................2

5.1 Mesolithic 7000-4000 BC............................................................................2

5.2 Neolithic 4000-2500 BC ..............................................................................2

5.3 Bronze Age 2500-500 BC .............................................................................3

5.4 Iron Age 500 BC-500 AD ............................................................................3

5.5 Early Medieval 500 AD-1169 AD ................................................................4

5.6 Later Medieval 1169 AD-1600 AD ...............................................................4

5.7 Post-Medieval (after 1600 AD) .....................................................................5

6 Results of Archaeological Excavation .................................................................6

6.1 Early Land Division - Ditches ......................................................................6

6.2 The Kiln .......................................................................................................7

6.3 Industrial Area - Work Surface ....................................................................11

6.4 Hearth and Stakeholes ................................................................................12

6.5 Later Land Division - Ditches ....................................................................13

6.6 Furrows .......................................................................................................14

7 Artefacts and Industrial Waste ........................................................................... 15

8 Environmental Remains .................................................................................... 15

9 Discussion ......................................................................................................... 15

10 Summary ........................................................................................................... 19

11 References ..........................................................................................................20

11.1 Websites ......................................................................................................22

12 Figures ...............................................................................................................23

13 Plates .................................................................................................................36

14 Appendices ........................................................................................................41

14.1 Appendix 1: Context Register ......................................................................41

14.2 Appendix 2: Stratigraphic Matrix ...............................................................48

14.3 Appendix 3: Finds register ...........................................................................49

14.4 Appendix 4: The medieval pottery from Bricketstown, Taghmon ................54

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14.5 Appendix 5: Radiocarbon dates ...................................................................56

14.6 Appendix 6: Archaeobotanical Assessment Report on the Charred Plant remains from Bricketstown .............................................................................................................57

14.7 Appendix 7: Geological Identification of Stone Artefacts from Bricketstown 63

14.8 Appendix 8: Industrial residues ...................................................................66

14.9 Appendix 9: Charcoal assessment Bricketstown, Co. Wexford (00E0476) ...75

Table of contents cont.

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List of FiguresFigure 1: Discovery map showing the route of the N25 Rathsillagh-Harristown road ..........................23

Figure 2: Ordnance Survey 1st edition showing the route of the N25 Rathsillagh-Harristown road ... 24

Figure 3: RMP sheet showing the route of the N25 Rathsillagh-Harristown road ...............................25

Figure 4: Route of new road with all excavated sites displayed .............................................................26

Figure 5: Plan of excavated area within the context of modern field and road boundaries ....................27

Figure 6: Plan of the excavated area showing the three main areas of archaeological activity (kiln, hearth and stakeholes, the working surface) and ditches .................................................................................28

Figure 7: Sections through early land division ditches (C.5 and C.8) ...................................................29

Figure 8: Post-excavation plan of the kiln bowl and flue (C.54 and C.19) ............................................30

Figure 9: Mid-excavation plan of the kiln bowl and flue (C.54 and C.19) ...........................................31

Figure 10: Earliest activity at the medieval work surface (C.154 and C.141) .........................................32

Figure 11: Work surface truncated by furrows (C.80 and C.81) ..........................................................33

Figure 12: Area with hearth (C.97) and stakeholes ............................................................................34

Figure 13: Section through later land division ditch (C.15) .................................................................35

List of PlatesPlate 1: Pre-excavation of kiln and ditches showing the kiln flue cutting the early ditch .......................36

Plate 2: Stone-lined flue at the base of the kiln bowl .............................................................................36

Plate 3: Lime residues at the base of the kiln bowl.................................................................................37

Plate 4: Layers of burnt clay and charcoal within the kiln flue ..............................................................37

Plate 5: Rake-out banked onto the southeast side of the flue .................................................................38

Plate 6: Re-cut of the kiln bowl .............................................................................................................38

Plate 7: Pre-excavation shot of parallel furrows traversing the site ..........................................................39

Plate 8: Millstone fragments recovered during topsoil removal ..............................................................39

Plate 9: Mid excavation of kiln showing splayed flue ............................................................................ 40

Plate 10: Post-excavation of kiln bowl showing baked substratum in kiln ............................................ 40

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1 SummaryCounty WexfordTownland BricketstownParish KilgarvanCivil Parish WhitechurchglynnBarony BantryNational Grid Co-ordinates 29177 12290

(219800 122947)Chainage 7010 East-West

400-1200 North-South (Adamstown to Taghmon Road)Site Type Kiln, ditches, furrows, hearth, stake-holes and a working surfaceExcavation Licence Number 00E0476

2 IntroductionArchaeological testing was conducted by Eachtra Archaeological Projects along the proposed route of the N25 realignment from Rathsillagh to Harristown, Co. Wexford. The proposed routeway was stripped by machine (under licence 00E0379) and in Bricketstown townland a number of agricultural features were exposed including a limekiln, land divisions, hearth and stakeholes, a platform with me-dieval waste and evidence of ridge and furrow cultivation. The site was close to the intersection of the Adamstown to Taghmon road and the main route, at chainage 7020. Following consultation with the DoEHLG (then Dúchas) and Wexford County Council a strategy of total excavation under licence 00E0476 was decided upon. The site represented a segment of the proposed road intake and was 180 m long and a maximum of 21 m wide.

3 Description of DevelopmentThe N25 is the main southern east to west route, traversing the counties of Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny and Wexford. It links the port of Rosslare Harbour with Cork City, via New Ross, Waterford City, Dungarvan and Youghal. A section of the N25 route between the townlands of Rathsillagh and Har-ristown Little was selected for upgrading, as the old road comprised a single carriageway in either direction, with several ‘blind’ junctions, and in many cases only a hedge separating farmland from the road. The new route sought to straighten and level out the N25 and to provide a wider single car-riageway with hard shoulder in either direction, in keeping with the Barntown scheme completed in 1998 (Fig.1).

4 Background to the excavation areaThe 8.5 km route of the new road crosses a series of low, undulating hills, to the south of the old N25 route, and is situated at a height of between 45 m and 80 m above sea level. The landscape here is characterised by small hills interspersed with many small streams; these eventually flow into the River Corock to the southwest, into the Slaney to the northwest, as well as feeding into Ballyteige Bay to the south. From its western beginning in Rathsillagh townland the routeway climbs gently, running parallel and to the south of the old N25. It then continues through Assagart, Ballyvergin, Shanowle,

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Camaross, Carrowreagh, Dungeer, Bricketstown and through into Harristown Little, eventually exit-ing in Harristown Big townland and tying into the Barntown improvement which opened in 1998 (Figs. 1-3).

The higher ground was lush pasture, well drained, and gave spectacular views all around. Sites on this part of the route included prehistoric settlement activity and a series of limekilns. Conversely, the lower ground in Camaross, Carrowreagh and Dungeer was quite marshy and prone to growth of gorse. Sites traditionally associated with low-lying ground were found in these townlands, for example a burnt mound at Dungeer and a moated site at Carrowreagh (Fig. 4).

5 Archaeological & Historical BackgroundThere are thirteen recorded archaeological monument sites within 1 km either side of the development; one is a church and graveyard site, nine are listed as enclosure sites of between 30 m and 60 m in di-ameter and three are moated sites (two of which are destroyed). The ecclesiastical site apparently dates to the medieval period as there is a fragment of a medieval grave cover in the graveyard and the site was originally surrounded by a circular bank (Moore 1996, 129). The enclosures most likely represent the raths and ringforts of the early medieval period (Moore 1996, 28). Prior to these excavations, the known archaeological remains in the locality were all medieval and post-medieval but several prehis-toric sites were identified during the course of this programme of excavation along the N25 route-way, including Neolithic material at Harristown Big, Bronze Age sites at Dungeer, Ballyvergin and Har-ristown Big and Iron Age activity at two sites in Bricketstown.

5.1 Mesolithic 7000-4000 BCThe earliest known human occupation of Ireland dates to the Mesolithic period (c. 7000-4000 BC). Lithic scatters from the period have been found along the banks of the Barrow river in counties Wex-ford and Waterford (Green and Zvelebil 1990). Some diagnostic Mesolithic stone artefacts were also found in Camolin, in north Wexford, and along the eastern coastline between Carnsore and Kilm-ichael point (Stout 1987, 3). However, most activity is identified in resource-rich locations by riversides and coastlines and there is no known evidence for Mesolithic activity within the area affected by the roadtake.

5.2 Neolithic 4000-2500 BCThere is piecemeal evidence for Neolithic occupation in County Wexford. Stout’s (1987) distribution map of Neolithic remains includes evidence for one single burial site, fifteen find spots for flint and stone atefacts, two portal tombs and seven other possible megalithic tombs. Work on the Archaeologi-cal Survey of Ireland reduced the number of other possible megaliths from seven to five (Moore 1996). Subsequent excavation work has increased the extent of knowledge concerning Neolithic settlement in the county. Early Neolithic pottery was found by McLoughlin (2004) at Kerlogue (02E0606) and at a pit and a hearth excavated under licence 00E0630 at Courtlands East (Purcell 2002). Later Neolithic activity in the county is indicated by Sandhills ware, discovered during an excavation (02E0434) in a

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pit at St. Vogues (Purcell 2004). An undated excavation at MacMurroughs (1985:59) also uncovered a number of flints and a ground stone axe, associated with a hearth and pit may also be Neolithic in date (Cotter 1986). Some evidence for Neolithic activity was found as part of this project at Harristown Big (00E0424) where Neolithic pottery was discovered at a site where various pits and stakeholes were excavated. Early Neolithic and possible Middle Neolithic wares were found.

5.3 Bronze Age 2500-500 BCSome of the earliest Bronze Age finds from Co. Wexford are three chance finds of Beaker gold discs (only one with a provenance). Other Bronze Age metal finds from the county includes hoards of both Early and Late Bronze Age artefacts, e.g. at Cahore Point, a cave at Nash, Ballyvadden, Enniscorthy, Forth Commons and New Ross (Stout 1987, 9-10, 22). At Ballyvadden the Late Bronze Age metal ob-jects were found within a ceramic container, a unique feature in Irish hoards, but apparently common on the continent during the period (Stout 1987, 22).

Burnt mounds are the most common Bronze Age site-types found in Ireland and sixty-three such sites were identified in the Archaeological Inventory for the county (Moore 1996) and since the survey work several have been excavated in the county; examples were found at Strandfield (McCarthy 2004) and along the routes of the N30 (Enniscorthy to Clonroche) and the N11 (Arklow to Gorey) roads (www.nra.ie). Only one burnt mound was excavated during works on the Rathsillagh-Harristown realign-ment of the N25; this was found at Dungeer 00E0474.

Much of our evidence for Bronze Age activity in Wexford to date has come from burials. There is a recognised concentration of cist-type burials in Co. Wexford; these are commonly thought to date to the Early Bronze Age. Stout (1987) identified more than thirty-seven identified but many were not well documented and Moore (1996) could only pinpoint the locations of only twenty-five cist and pit burials in total. Several other burials with diagnostic Bronze Age pottery have since been found during excavation: there was a cordoned urn burial at Ballintubbrid, vase urn burials at Coolnaboy, Gorey Corporation Lands and Kilmurry, a cist with a tripartite bowl at Knockbrack and a ring ditch with cremation burials at Ferns Lower (Bennett 2004-5). Another ring-ditch was found at Kerlogue Sites 4 and 5 and a large round house excavated at Kerlogue Site 2 was probably also of Bronze Age date (McLoughlin 2004). The excavations from the Rathsillagh-Harristown road scheme included one Early-Middle Bronze Age site at Ballyvergin where hot-stone technology was used in association with metalworking. Another metalworking site was found at Harristown Big (00E0425) where a series of Late Bronze Age metalworking pits and crucibles were found and the Late Bronze Age burnt mound site at Dungeer (00E0474).

5.4 Iron Age 500 BC-500 ADIn common with much of Ireland there is very little evidence for Iron Age activity in Co. Wexford. Hillforts and promontory forts have possible construction dates in the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age and there are two hillforts and five promontory forts in the county (Moore 1996). The artefactual

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evidence for this period in Wexford includes two pins that are of probable Iron Age date and two pos-sible Iron Age stone heads recovered from Duncormick (Stout 1987, 29-30). Two of the sites excavated along the route of the Rathsillagh-Harristown road produced Iron Age radiocarbon dates, both were from Bricketstown and one was a small cremation cemetery (00E0623), the second was a small hearth (00E0624).

5.5 Early Medieval 500 AD-1169 ADThe beginnings of Christianity are evident in the remains of seventeen early ecclesiastical sites in Co. Wexford (Moore 1996). One of the earliest excavated examples from Co. Wexford was at St. Vogues, at Carnsore, where a wooden church preceded a stone building (O’Kelly 1975). One of the closest known early church sites to the roadtake is located approximately 3 km to the south at the church of Poulmarl/Taghmon, the monastery founded by St. Munna in the seventh century. The list of abbots from this site continues to the end of the tenth century and there is a record of a Viking raid in 917 AD (Moore 1996, 160). By this time the Norse town of Weisford, later to become Wexford, was already established, having been established by the end of the ninth century (Colfer 1990-1991).

Evidence for settlement in the county during the early medieval period comes from ringforts, typical monuments of the period. These were circular or subcircular enclosures made from earthen banks that surrounded areas roughly between 25 and 40 metres in diameter. Excavated examples have demon-strated that they generally surrounded single farmstead-type settlement sites. One hundred and fifty-three examples are known from the county (Moore 1996). Of these only two were located within close proximity to the area of the new Rathsillagh-Harristown road (at Haystown, c. 3 km to the north of the new road and at Cullenstown c. 2 km to the south). There are also numerous circular enclosure sites that probably represent ringforts; thirteen of them appear on the RMP Sheet 36 (covering the area of the new road-take) for Co. Wexford.

5.6 Later Medieval 1169 AD-1600 ADThe Anglo-Normans first landed in Ireland in Co. Wexford in 1169. The county was within their initial land-grab zone between AD 1169 and AD 1190 (Mitchell & Ryan 1997, 305) and was sub-infeudated in the early stages of Anglo-Norman activity in Ireland (Colfer 1987). Wexford county was one of the first twelve counties created by the English Kings in the 12th to 13th centuries, from the original Prov-inces and lesser Territories of the Irish Tuatha (Howarth 1911, 161). By the thirteenth century much of the area covered by the Rathsillagh-Harristown road-take was a frontier zone and the archaeological landscape of these areas is characterised by moated sites: there are ten known sites on RMP Sheet 36 for Co. Wexford, the area covered by the new road, and one moated site at Carrowreagh was found along the line of the new road. Moated sites were distributed at the peripheries of the colonial organi-sation centres and probably represent an attempt at secondary colonisation (O’Keeffe 2000, 73-75). There are almost 130 moated sites known in County Wexford (Moore 1996, 95). However, by the end of the fourteenth century, much of the Anglo-Norman settlement in Co. Wexford had retreated to a southeastern stronghold in the baronies of Forth and Bargy, a pattern that Colfer (1987) suggests was

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reminiscent of the “Pale of county Wexford”. Excavations of medieval sites in the county include the remains of a medieval house were excavated at Ballyanne (Moran 2000), with pottery indicative of oc-cupation in the 12th to 14th centuries, and excavations at Ferns, Hook Head, Newtown, Tintern, Tagh-mon, New Ross and Wexford town all produced medieval archaeological remains (Bennett 2004-5). Along the route of the Rathsillagh-Harristown road the moated site at Carrowreagh (excavated under licence no. 00E0476) was the largest medieval site excavated. A spread of medieval occupation material was also excavated at Bricketwtown (00E0476) and this was rich in the remains of medieval pottery. It is also possible that the limekilns at Bricketstown (00E0476) and Harristown Little (00E0417) were in use at the very end of the medieval period.

5.7 Post-Medieval (after 1600 AD)A few excavations of post-medieval archaeological sites have been carried out in Wexford county, in-cluding Brideswell Big, Duncannon Fort, and excavations in Wexford and Ennisorthy town (Bennett 2004-5). Some of the excavations from the Rathsillagh to Harristown road scheme were probably used during this time, in particular the limekilns at Bricketstown (00E0476, 00E0626) and Harristown Little (00E0417) were probably in use at this period. There is Jacobean house site in Dungeer, one of the townlands affected by the roadtake. References to the house/castle date to the early seventeenth century (Moore 1996).

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6 Results of Archaeological Excavation The site comprised six archaeological parts; early land divisions (ditches), a kiln, a working surface, a hearth with stakeholes, later land divisions (ditches) and furrows (Fig. 5 and 6). The latest features were furrows, bound by ditches which acted as field divisions and/or drains. Underlying the furrows two separate areas of activity were encountered. The first of these consisted of a number of stakeholes and a hearth, while the second was a working surface. The kiln, which post-dated one of the field bounda-ries, was also excavated. The context register, with full contextual details, is found in Appendix 1, the stratigrpahic matrix is in Appendix 2 and the finds register is in Appendix 3.

6.1 Early Land Division - DitchesTwo parallel ditches (C.5 and C.8), orientated roughly northeast-southwest, ran across the northern end of the site (Fig. 6). The northeastern of the two (C.5) was also the longest, with 56.5 m of the ditch exposed. It was 1 m wide with a maximum remaining depth of 0.14 m. The northwestern edge of the ditch sloped gradually to an irregular, but flattish base. The opposite side was almost vertical. This ditch was filled by two deposits (C.3 and C.10), both were probably a product of natural processes and their ‘tip lines’ seemed to indicate this infill occurred from the southeastern side (Fig. 7). The basal fill (C.10) was a redeposited natural while the upper fill (C.3) was darker with more characteristics of a surface soil. The redeposited natural in C.10 may have slumped from a bank located to the southeast. At an average distance of 1.5 m to the southeast was the parallel ditch (C.8) which was exposed over a length of 37 m. This ditch was 1.2 m wide and 0.32 m deep. The ditch cut had moderately sloping sides, convex on the northwest and concave on the southeast, with a flat base (Fig. 7). Three fills (C.2, C.6 and C.7) had been deposited in the cut (C.8). The basal fill (C.7) was the thickest of these and was overlain by redeposited subsoil (C.6) which was similar to the basal fill (C.10) of the other ditch (C.5). These were redeposited natural sediments and may have been slump from a bank of redeposited natural that filled the area between the two ditches. The tip lines in both sections (Fig. 7) also suggest that infilling occurred from the area between the two ditches, again suggesting a bank.

The upper fill of ditch C.8 was C.2, a fill almost identical to C.7, the basal fill. A fragment of pottery was recovered from C.2 (Find 00E0476:2:1). This was identified as medieval Leinster Cooking Ware (Appendix 4), which is the same type as the pottery recovered from the work surface situated c. 30 m to the southwest and its deposition here may indicate that the activity at both areas of the site were more or less contemporaneous. However, this could also indicate material from a medieval context that was disturbed and redeposited in the ditch fill at a much later date. Two of the fills from C.8 (C.7 and C.2) were very similar to the upper fill of the previous ditch (C.3 in ditch C.5). As the fills within both ditches are quite similar it is likely that they fell into disuse at approximately the same time. All the indicators suggest that these two ditches were the remains of one field boundary, also originally in-corporating a bank. The southeastern ditch (C.8) travelled southwest to a point where it was truncated by another ditch (C.15) and it did not continue further beyond this. In contrast, the other parallel ditch (C.5) was truncated by two ditches to the south (C.15 and C.35) but continued beyond them and beyond the excavated area. This ditch (C.5) was also cut by the flue of the kiln (Plate 1 shows the kiln

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and nearby ditches before excavation with the kiln flue clearly truncating the ditch).

6.2 The KilnThe kiln was located towards the northern end of the excavated area (Fig. 6). It consisted of a relatively large circular bowl cut (C.54) with a flue (C.19) extending to the southwest. It was the flue cut which truncated the field boundary ditch (C.5) (Plate 1).

The bowl (C.54) measured 2.72 m east-west, 2.87 m north-south. It had almost vertical straight sides which came to a flat base, producing a sizable pit to a depth of about 0.7 m (Fig. 8). The flue (C.19) was orientated northeast-southwest and entered the bowl on the southern side where the opening was cut to a width of 0.84 m. The base of the flue rose steadily from the base of the bowl to just over 4 m away where it terminated at ground level. As the base became shallower, the sides of the flue cut also splayed - changing from vertical to gently sloping– and widened to over 2.6 m. In total, the bowl and flue denoted a structure of approximately 7 m in length.

Once the main cutting of the kiln had been completed it is possible that the builders tested the mer-its of the location they had chosen and the depth of their kiln. In this instance, a trampled charcoal spread (C.173) may be explained as the result of use of the kiln before its construction was finished; it lay at the centre of the base of the bowl and may be associated with the earliest ephemeral burning deposits within the flue (C.172). Subsequent alterations were made after this phase of burning and the subsoil was removed from the side of the bowl to the east and west of the flue aperture. This cut (C.171) created an overhang on the western side of the bowl. The void behind the stone lining around the bowl (C.136) was filled by a sandy silt (C.170).

The circumference of the base of the bowl was lined with stones (C.136), the only break being at the flue opening (Plate 2). Within this circle of stones the base was divided into quadrants, each one filled with stones (C.136) covered in lime residue (Plate 3). The stone-rows within the kiln bowl were separated from each other by up to 0.2 m and laid in a cruciform pattern, continuing the line of the flue, and defining quadrants within the bowl. The conduits between each quadrant were coarsely lintelled (C.142 and C.160) to create a complex air circulation system throughout the kiln. These air ducts (C.59 and C.57) were filled with debris (C.155, C.156, C.158 and C.161) and materials which indicated kiln use, such as charcoal and burnt lime. Three of the relatively solid quadrants (or quar-ter-circles C.136) each had further consolidating deposits laid above them. These (C.94, C.134 and C.135) were of orange silty sand, were of substantial extent and all had been heat altered. The fourth quadrant in the northeast had a small deposit (C.117) which consisted of ashy grey sandy silt that was probably related to the use of the kiln.

Although it is possible the orange deposits (C.94, C.134 and C.135) related to a working platform as was hypothesised during excavation, it is more likely that these deposits provided mass to which latent heat transferred and thus aided a prolonged heating process. Furthermore, the fact that a consolidation

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layer was absent from the quadrant furthest to the rear of the bowl (C.54) may have allowed the air to funnel through to the back of the kiln, thus balancing the heat distribution throughout.

At the aperture of the flue the stone lining (C.136) gave way to redeposited topsoil (C.148) which had been packed on each side of the flue. This was covered by lintel stones (C.162) which would have se-cured the opening but had definitely subsided over time. The remainder of the flue cut (C.19) evidently had side stones (C.114) but only a few of these remained (Fig. 9). The fact that the capstones (C.162) had shifted somewhat was evidenced by a patchwork of deposits above the stones; overlying the lintels were two deposits (C.146 and C.144) of redeposited and scorched naturals and above these were three further deposits (C.127, C.125 and C.124) of sandy silt, each sealing the flue canal. (The complexity of this series of deposits is illustrated in the mid-excavation plan Fig. 9).

The flue cut (C.19) to the southwest of the lintels (C.162) was the location of multiple burning epi-sodes, including several deposits indicative of raking out of ashes and burnt soil. At the southwestern end of the flue (C.19), as it splayed out at ground level, a charcoal stained spread (C.139) signified these episodes of ash removal. Approximately half way down the external part of the flue, a hearth spread (C.138) remained, which consisted of burnt clays and charcoal (Plate 4 and Fig. 9). This comprised lenses of ashy material which probably represented a sequence of firings with only short time periods separating each event. It occupied the entire floor of the northern half of the flue. Both the hearth (C.138) and the rake-out (C.139) were covered by a layer of further raked/disturbed material (C.125). This red sandy silt (C.125) was heavily oxidised and littered with residue from burning and so was re-lated to hearths and previous firings. It had been disturbed - probably raked – and banked up against the southeast side of the flue (Plate 5). This was probably to clear the northwest side of the flue chan-nel so that the kiln could be used without entirely removing previous hearth material. This remaining channel was later partially backfilled with two deposits (C.95 and C.111). Both were about 0.1 m thick and had sparse evidence for burning activity. One (C.95) closed the start of the flue at the southwest, while the other (C.111) covered the remainder of the hearth (C.138) further down the flue. The largest of the surviving side stones (C.114) of the flue then collapsed over the latter deposit (C.111). To put the flue beyond use it was backfilled with a mottled friable material (C.88) which contained occasional charcoal and covered the entire northwestern side of the flue.

Within the bowl, changes had also occurred during the lifespan of the kiln. A number of fills had col-lapsed into the chamber, filling it slowly from all sides. Immediately overlying the quadrants (C.136) and their sand packing (C.94, C.134 and C.135) were four fills (C.112, C.113, C.115 and C.116) (Fig. 9). On the southeastern side, a small deposit (C.112) had been indirectly heat affected. Similarly, a much larger deposit (C.113) on the eastern side produced evidence of indirect heating. It was also likely that this fill had been deposited before the final firing of the kiln as small pieces of charcoal were frequent in its composition. On the western side a fill (C.115) was found to show the same residual evidence and a small deposit (C.116) to the north was almost identical. These fills (C.112, C.113, C.115 and C.116) were all a product of kiln use and collectively illustrate heat related subsidence from all

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sides above the kiln. The relatively insubstantial amounts concerned did not block the air flow through the kiln. Overlying these initial fills was a more substantial crescent-shaped deposit (C.110) which was thickest over the flue entrance and presumably collapsed from this side, as it was absent from the northern side. This was a discoloured, charcoal flecked, residual layer from when the kiln was active and, although substantial, it would not have prevented heat circulation within the kiln.

The kiln appeared to fall into disuse beyond this period and most of the fills within the bowl repre-sented the destruction of chamber or related material. Overlying the fill within the bowl (C.110), an un-burnt fill (C.87) was found which only occasionally produced charcoal flecks and scorched natu-ral. At the same time a greenish grey clay deposit (C.91), containing frequent mortar and moderate charcoal flecks, was backfilled over the central point of the cruciform flue system and effectively put this system out of use. Allied to this was clayey silt (C.90) deposited on the southern side. This was a compacted mottled layer that suggested that kiln material, probably rake-out, was used in the purpose-ful backfill of the bowl. A less mottled deposit (C.89) was dumped above this and further up the side of the bowl. On the side nearest the flue, three similar fills (C.84, C.85 and C.86) of brown silt, all with inclusions of burnt lining (baked natural), were identified high on the edge. These were distinct deposits and C.85 and C.86 were divided by a much darker silt spread (C.79) to the west. This dark deposit (C.79) produced some burnt stone but nothing else indicative of heat transfer. There was a subsequent central backfill of the bowl characterised by a firm sandy silt (C.76) with pebbles as well as pieces of weathered limestone and charcoal flecks. A further dump of dark silt (C.75) was deposited on the southern slope of the bowl and contained occasional charcoal and burnt stone. A spread of material (C.73) was tipped from the east edge and was similar to that which had been tipped from the south (C.75). Both were probably originally cleared from the flue before being backfilled at a later date. On the south side a further layer (C.72) was deposited, again indicating deliberate backfilling, but with less evidence that the soil was previously an active component within the kiln. These were covered by deposits C.71, an un-sorted, sterile brown pebbly silt that did not indicate any association with use of the kiln and C.70, a green sandy silt which also seems unlikely to have been connected with any direct kiln activity. A dark broad fill (C.69) of sandy silt with charcoal flecks covered these layers and most of the southern and eastern sides of the pit. The deposit was disturbed and so was not burned in situ, but this fill indicates a period of activity in the late medieval/post-medieval period, as some charcoal in the deposit returned a radiocarbon date of cal AD 1450-1650 (Beta-219132, see Appendix 5).

The opposite side of the bowl appeared to be backfilled with comparatively few deposits. High on the north edge, a previously heated sandy silt (C.68) was dumped. At approximately the same time a large reddish brown deposit (C.67) was tipped from the southern side. Another backfilled deposit (C.66) was dumped on top from the southwest side; it included layers of broken shale which suggest that this material originated as subsoil, perhaps removed when the kiln was constructed. A smaller deposit (C.65) to the south also included shale. An additional grey pebbly crescent shaped deposit (C.64) was found high on the southwestern edge. It was overlain by a layer (C.62) of black silt with occasional flecks of charcoal. Following this, natural subsoil (C.60), most likely from the original cutting of the

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kiln (C.54), was backfilled from the west. Yet another fill (C.56) of black silt that contained evidence of burning was then tipped in from the west, over which still more natural subsoil (C.55) was deposited. A small patch of strongly cemented pebbly sand (C.53) was found to have been dumped high on the southwest edge and this had been covered by a layer (C.52) of yellowish orange clay. An insubstantial dark silt (C.47) was then deposited on this followed by a further pebbly deposit (C.46). The southern half of the remaining kiln hollow was then covered with natural subsoil (C.44) which almost certainly originated from the kiln cut (C.54) as this subsoil had charcoal flecking. On the north side of the kiln redeposited natural subsoil (C.42) was tipped (backfilled) from the west. Two dark burnt soils (C.41 and C.40) were then dumped on top of this. Both areas of redeposited natural (C.42 and C.44) were then covered with a broad burnt deposit of sandy silt (C.39) which contained inclusions of charcoal and possible burnt kiln lining which may have originated from a kiln cleaning episode. Backfilling continued at the western side of the kiln, and two more burnt brown silt deposits (C.37 and C.36) were tipped from the western edge. C.36 was then covered with a sequence of pebbles (C.34 and C.32) and more burnt sandy silts (C.33, C.31, C.28 and C.20). This sequence was sealed beneath a broad fill of stony redeposited natural subsoil (C.30) which had been dumped in from the southwest. A dark reddish black sand (C.26) was then deposited on C.30. Across the southern side a final large fill of brown stony silt (C.23) was dumped. The final fills evident in the kiln bowl (C.54) were less substantial (C.16, C.17, C.18 and C.20), all produced evidence of burning.

The flue cut (C.19), while put beyond use by a substantial fill (C.88), would still have remained as a depression. At the end nearest the flue aperture, this depression was backfilled further with brown silty clay (C.83). Above this and to the southwest, light ashy silt (C.77) was deposited before burnt mottled silt (C.74) was banked up on the flue aperture. The fills at the northern end of the flue were then cov-ered with mottled redeposited natural (C.63) which had probably originated from the cutting of the flue (C.19). At the southwest end of the flue three deposits (C.45, C.43 and C.38) backfilled the west side. All produced charcoal flecks and probably represented earlier ‘rake-outs’ events which were later redeposited. A large brownish red deposit (C.61) with inclusions of charcoal was banked up against the southeastern side of the flue (C.19). Finally, the flue (C.19) was completely levelled out by a deposit (C.29) of assorted topsoil, natural subsoil and charcoal flecks.

The bowl section of the kiln (C.54), once filled, was cut into at some later date. This was a sub-circu-lar pit (C.12), approximately 2 m in diameter with moderate concave sides, with the exception of the northern side which was almost vertical (Plate 6). It was dug to a depth of 0.44 m and the base was irregular. The sides of the cut were not oxidised and they were not burned in situ. The primary fill (C.11) of the pit only represented previous backfills of the kiln bowl which had been cut through and then redeposited. The uppermost fill (C.9) was brown sandy silt with occasional flecks of burnt natural and charcoal, but again not indicative of a function for the pit (C.12). This late pit cut may suggest that the site was intended to be reopened and that this task had commenced and was then abandoned before completion.

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Eighteen samples from the kiln were examined for plant remains and for the extraction of material from the heavy residues left after flotation. Limited quantities of charred macroplant fragments were discovered in the samples (see Appendix 6) and these may have been used as fuel or tinder in the kiln. Weathered limestone (identified by R. Unitt) was found in three contexts associated with the kiln bowl (C.136, C.155 and C.156) and this may have been a raw material for kiln use if lime was prepared. Any residual lime from use as a limekiln would have quickly dissolved in water and would not necessarily leave a trace (R. Unitt, pers. comm.).

6.3 Industrial Area - Work SurfaceApproximately 30 m to the south of the kiln an area of intense archaeological activity was interpreted as a work surface (Fig.6). This was recorded as twelve layers of archaeological deposits. These layers were partially truncated by furrows (C.80 and C.81).The earliest activity encountered was represented by two cuts; C.154 and C.141 (Fig. 10). The eastern of the two (C.154) was a relatively shallow stakehole, which tapered and inclined towards the south. This was filled by an orangey red clay deposit (C.153 – similar to C.140 detailed below). The other feature (C.141) was a sub-circular pit with a cut that had a steep side at the west, while elsewhere the sides sloped gently to a blunt rounded base. The first deposit in the sequence (C.143) partially filled this pit cut (C.141), although most of it was found to the east of the stakehole (C.154). This spread was not found over the stakehole and it is possible that the timber stake was still in place when charcoal spread was deposited. The charcoal spread (C.143) comprised black clay with stones and frequent char-coal, probably hearth material removed from the pit cut (C.141). A thick fill (C.140) of orangey red clay filled the remainder of the pit and also sealed the charcoal spread and the stakehole. This material (C.140) contained no finds but was probably hearth related material from elsewhere.

A large layer (C.92) of redeposited natural overlay this, and extended in all directions beyond the previ-ous contexts. It contained numerous pottery fragments (Finds 00E0476:92:1-35) and after refitting by the pottery specialist these were identified as thirty sherds of Leinster Cooking Ware (Appendix 4). A piece of iron slag, a possible furnace bottom, was also found in this deposit. This layer formed a surface of unknown function.

Three small lenses of burnt clay (C.137) were deposited on top of this surface; the burnt clay produced no finds and was not in situ. Overlying this was an elongated (east-west) charcoal spread (C.93) which contained many pottery fragments (00E0476:93:1-39), refitted to form thirty-four sherds of Leinster Cooking Ware (Appendix 4). The deposit appeared to have been scattered here as it was very thin with poorly defined edges. Another large layer (C.82) covered the charcoal and more or less mirrored the extent of the previous layer. It comprised dark brown clay with moderate amounts of charcoal and burnt clay and large amounts of Leinster Cooking Ware (00E0476:82:1-88), which were refitted to produce seventy-eight sherds (Appendix 4). A further large layer of dark brown silty clay with moder-ate charcoal inclusions (C.48) was deposited directly on the surface (Fig. 11) and it also produced sev-eral pottery fragments (00E0476:1-18), possibly residual from the lower layer (C.82). Also above C.82,

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in the northeast, was a crescent shaped deposit (C.78) that consisted of black silty clay with frequent charcoal. This was probably hearth material raked to the side of a hearth (C.51), which was defined by an area of burnt clay and edged by the crescent shaped deposit (C.78) at its southeastern extent.

This hearth (C.51) was on the interface with the topsoil and so had been partially truncated by agricul-tural activity. Millstone fragments (Appendix 7) were recovered from this location during monitoring of topsoil removal within the development site (Finds no. 00E0476:1:18-19). These finds suggest the possibility that the hearth was associated with processing cereals (heat is often required to harden grain and facilitate grinding). Indeterminate fragments of grains and grasses were retrieved from a sample of the hearth (Appendix 6). It is also possible that the millstones were part of general waste that was dumped at this part of the site, representing domestic (pottery) and industrial (slag) activities.

The surfaces and layers at this part of the site may have been deliberately laid work surfaces that were constructed by moving waste and debris from other areas of activity, or perhaps the remains signify a sequence of dumping, rather than deliberate deposition, in one area. Either way, the hearth laid at the very highest level of these layers may have been for work or for waste disposal purposes.

6.4 Hearth and StakeholesBetween the kiln and the working area there was another small area of archaeological activity that comprised numerous stakeholes and a circular pit (Fig. 12). The pit (C.97) contained two fills (C.96 and C.59), with the basal fill (C.96) identified as redeposited natural subsoil which contained no arte-facts or archaeobotanical material (Appendix 6) and there was no evidence to indicate its origin. Both fills contained moderate amounts of broken slate and the upper fill (C.59) resembled hearth material. As a consequence the pit has been interpreted as a hearth.

A stake had been inserted into the northern part of this hearth (C.59). The sub-circular stakehole (C.123) tapered to a point and inclined to the northeast. This stakehole (C.123) was filled with reddish brown gravel (C.122).

Immediately north of the hearth five stakeholes (C.101, C.129, C.131, C.133 and C.103) were found clustered together (Fig. 12). Three of these (C.101, C.131 and C.133) were circular, one oval (C.103) and one sub-circular (C.129). All were roughly the same depth (c. 0.1 m) except for the central stakehole (C.133) which was shallower (0.05 m) and set completely vertical. The others (C.101, C.129, C.131, and C.103) were generally inclined towards a central point (east, southwest, southwest and northeast respectively). These contained separate but similar fills (C.100, C.102, C.128, C.130 and C.132) of reddish brown silty clay with inclusions of fine pebbles and charcoal. No artefacts were recovered.

Approximately 0.6 m north of the latter group, an isolated sub-circular stakehole (C.99), which was ‘U-shaped’ and set vertically, contained a fill (C.98) identical to those identified in the other stake-holes.

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Three further stakeholes (C.105, C.107 and C.109) were located to the south of the hearth (C.59). The western-most of these (C.105) was a circular stakehole of similar depth to those elsewhere; it leant slightly away from the hearth (to the southwest). This was filled by C.104, the same reddish brown silty clay encountered in stakeholes to the north of the hearth. Directly south of the hearth, an ovate stakehole (C.107) orientated southwest-northeast was excavated. This was shallow (0.05 m) but filled with the similar brown silty clay (C.106). The stake here would have inclined to the southeast. Finally, the third stakehole (C.109) south of the hearth was sub-circular and inclined to the southwest. This was filled with light brown silty clay (C.108) with only very occasional charcoal inclusions.

This isolated area of archaeology must be interpreted as a hearth with associated spit or cooking furniture. Although there were no connections between any of the stakeholes they were probably all broadly contemporary. The stakes were generally aligned north/northwest to south/southeast across the hearth, some clustered together at the north. This was the only area of the site where cereal grains were relatively frequent (mostly identified as oats and barley, see Appendix 6) and it is an area that may have been used for cooking or processing grain. However, there was no evidence for the date of this activity at the site and it is difficult to relate it to either the kiln to the north or the medieval deposits to the south.

6.5 Later Land Division - Ditches Two ditches (C.15 and C.35) traversed the site and these encompassed and were aligned with the later furrows. These ditches ran parallel to one another and were orientated east-west (Fig. 6). They both truncated earlier ditches (C.5 and C.8).

The northern of the two ditches (C.15), contained three fills; C.4, C.13 and C.14 (Fig. 13). Both sides of the ditch cut (C.15) were stepped, but the northern side was slightly steeper. The primary fill (C.14) consisted of burnt clay with high instances of charcoal. It appeared that wood and scrub had been burned in places intermittently along the base of the ditch. This was in turn covered by a fill (C.13) of orange silty clay which was probably redeposited natural subsoil and it may represent the collapse, or purposeful backfill, of a field bank. One fragment of Leinster Cooking Ware (Find 00E0476:13:1, identified in Appendix 4) was also incorporated into the fill. A sherd was also recovered from the ear-lier ditch (C.8). Disturbance and truncation probably led to the redeposition of earlier pottery into the fills of both ditches. The upper fill (C.4) of the ditch was brown silty clay, formed primarily through natural silting of the ditch, perhaps accelerated by agricultural activity in the vicinity, evidenced by the presence of furrows to the south (see below).

Another ditch (C.35) ran parallel to the south. It was approximately half as wide and only half as deep as C.15 and it had moderate concave sides sloping to a flat base. The basal fill (C.27) was brownish orange silty clay, comparable to the middle fill of the northern ditch (C.13). It also had inclusions of charcoal, again suggesting intermittent burning activity. The ditch was finally filled with a dark brown

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deposit (C.24) comparable to the upper fill of ditch C.15. Although the ditch cuts (C.15 and C.35) were quite different, the fills indicate similar formation processes, and they were probably back-filled simultaneously. The redeposited fills C.13 and C.27 suggest a bank had been built between the ditches from the up-cast of the cuts.

These ditches signify the enclosing of land which contained the evidence for ridge and furrow agricul-ture.

6.6 FurrowsApproximately 25 furrows traversed the site and survived in various degrees of preservation (Plate 7). They were all roughly parallel to one another and were orientated north-northwest – south-southeast (Fig. 6). These were recorded diligently where it was suspected that the line of the furrow truncated earlier activity. As these were homogeneous, the furrows at locations with no underlying archaeology will not be discussed here.

Only two furrows (C.80 and C.81) passed over archaeology (the working area C.48). Both were of a shallow depth and were filled with brown silty clay (C.49 and C.50 respectively). These fills contained charcoal and pottery (Finds 00E0476: 49:1-5 and 00E0476:50:1-20), after refitting these were identi-fied by the pottery specialist as twenty-three sherds of Leinster Cooking Ware (Appendix 4) which were probably disturbed from the underlying layer (C.48).

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7 Artefacts and Industrial WasteThe most common artefacts retrieved from this site were fragments of ceramic pottery which were ex-amined by Clare McCutcheon (Appendix 4). These were primarily retrieved from contexts that made up the work surface. After refitting were two hundred and two sherds of Leinster Cooking Ware were identified, with four vessel noted: two cooking jars, a lamp and a platter or slab that was probably used as a serving dish. These were all domestic wares.Industrial waste from the site was analysed by Effie Photos-Jones (Appendix 8). This comprised one lump of slag that was found in the layers that made up the work surface and it was identified as slag that formed after roasting, possibly in preparation for a smelt. Fragments from millstone (Plate 8) were recovered during topsoil monitoring at the site and these were the subject of a visual examination by the geologist Richard Unitt (Appendix 7). It was identified as Red-brown, clast supported, immature conglomerate and the granular stone was probably deliberately chosen as a raw material for the millstone since its rough texture created a good grinding surface (R. Unitt pers. comm.). This stone is described in Appendix 7. These finds are catalogued in the Finds Register in Appendix 3. The pottery and slag were retrieved from the work surface and the millstone fragments were retrieved from topsoil during monitoring.

8 Environmental RemainsCharcoal was only found in two of the samples from the site and this was assessed by Mary Dillon in advance of radiocarbon dating (Appendix 9). Martha Tierney examined forty-five samples for plant remains from the site but no charred seeds were found in any of the samples (see Appendix 6).

9 DiscussionThe main features of the sites included early land divisions (ditches), a work surface with residues from various industrial activities, a hearth surrounded by stakeholes/hearth furniture, later land divisions (ditches) that enclosed ridges and furrows and a kiln. The archaeological evidence from the site is gen-erally indicative of activity associated with agriculture, incorporating a kiln, furrows, boundaries and drainage ditches. The hearth and a work/industrial surface to the south of the site do not appear to be related and their purpose or function remains puzzling.

The most complex sequence of archaeological deposits at the site was excavated at the kiln, which can be summarised as follows: a bowl and flue cut, with the flue splayed at its entrance (see Plate 9). The base of the flue was inclined, with the highest point at the flue entrance and the lowest at the point where it met the base of the bowl. Stone-lined air conduits in a cruciform pattern were found at the base of the bowl and they continued from the line of the flue and allowed the efficient distribution of heat within the kiln. There was evidence for successive firings and rake-outs from the bowl. At the end of its use the kiln flue was apparently deliberately blocked, although there was some evidence to suggests that there may have been attempts to recut the bowl. However, this was not successful and kiln was abandoned.

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This site was initially interpreted as a grain drying kiln and appears in a gazetteer of excavated grain drying kilns (Monk and Kelleher 2005, 109). It now appears that this classification is mistaken. The absence of large quantities grain or plant remains in any of the kiln deposits (Appendix 6) is one argu-ment against the interpretation of the site as a grain drying kiln. In addition, the series of kilns exca-vated during this project were significantly bigger than the usual size of excavated keyhole shape grain drying kilns; chamber diameters ranged from 0.32 m to 1.6 m in most surveyed examples (Monk and Kelleher 2005, 81), while the chamber at this site was c. 2.8 m in diameter, in line with the sizes noted for the few excavated examples of late medieval/early post-medieval limekilns known from Ireland (see comparative table below).

Table of comparative details for excavated examples of Irish limekilns

Site County Orientation Total length Bowl Length Bowl Width Bowl Depth Flue length Flue width

Ballymount Great 97E0316(Conway 1998)

Dublin 1.2 0.71

Laurence’s Street, Drogheda 98E0544(Murphy 2000)

Louth 3.4 3.4

Custom House 97E0028 ext(Delaney 2000)

Galway NW-SE 3.5 3.5 >1

Nicholas Street Site F(Walsh 1997)

Dublin N-S Bowl and stokehole c.2.2 m

1.88 1.8 1.55 No flue found

N/A

Danecastle, Carrick-on-Bannow 04E0855(Ó Drisceoil 2004-5)

Wexford NNW-SSE Not fully excavated

3.48 1.64 5.04 4.35-1.35

Bohercrow road, Murgasty 97E0026(Cummins 1999)

Tipperary E-W 8.5 c. 3.5? 3.48 1.2 c. 5?

Bricketstown 00E0476 Wexford NE-SW 7 2.87 2.72 0.7 4 0.84 to 2.6

Bricketstown 00E0626 Wexford NNE-SSW 7 c. 3 c. 3 1.25 4 1 to 2Harristown Little 00E0417 * Wexford NNE-SSW 3.7 * 2.7 2.7 0.52 1 * 1

* indicates truncation, full extent unknown

? indicates that measurements are estimates based on summary measurements given

Other excavated limekilns include Drogheda (Campbell 1987) and Tullyallen 5 (Campbell 2001) in Co. Louth, Kilkenny Castle (Sweetman 1976) and Callan (Moran 2001) in Co. Kilkenny, two lime kilns at Mondaniel (03E1094), Co. Cork (Quinn 2006) and one limekiln at 8-9 Lower Abbey St., Sligo 98E0216 ext (Hayden 1999).

Additional suggestions that this was a limekiln come from the structural remains at Bricketstown (00E0476), in particular the air vent at the base of the kiln bowl. This was constructed from stones and arranged in a cruciform pattern to allow an even distribution of air through the kiln. The constant distribution of air during lime burning was crucial as this ensured that the procedure occurred evenly (Bick 1984) and ventilation channels would have promoted good results from the kiln. This facility was more impressive than the simple earth cut channel found at the base of the other Bricketstown kiln (00E0626). A kiln similar to the Bricketstown example was found at Dromthacker, Co. Kerry (Cleary 1998) with cruciform air vents at the base. These vents were earth-cut rather than stone lined

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flues and although no radiocarbon date was obtained the structure was interpreted as a nineteenth century limekiln.

The baked substratum found at each of these Wexford kilns indicated extreme heat, and at Brckets-town (00E0476) there was evidence that the walls of the kiln, cut into the subsoil, had been subject to extremely high temperatures (see Plate 10 of post-ex of kiln bowl). This is comparable to the results from another excavation in Co. Wexford; at Danecastle, Carrick-on-Bannow Ó Drisceoil (2004-5) noted that a limekiln was lined with a mixture of clay and crushed sandstone which had baked rock-hard in the heat of the kiln. Temperatures inducing such baking must have been far in excess of the requirements for drying grain and hard-baked subsoil is not usually a noted feature of grain drying kilns. Temperatures reached during experimental firings of grain drying kilns were never in excess of 65ºC (Monk and Kelleher 2005, 97-100) while the temperatures required for making lime is usually near the 900ºC mark (Stowell 1963, 10; Hale et al. 2003).

A more recent limekiln was recorded along the route of the Harristown-Rathsillagh realignment, within the townland of Ballyvergin, which was shown on the 1st edition OS map and was said to have been in use only 70 years prior to its destruction (Elder 2001). It was located 2 km northwest of the site at Bricketstown. This kiln appears to have been a successor to the earlier examples excavated at Harrisown Little and Bricketstown. It’s existence is proof of the availability of suitable raw materials for lime burning in the general area. The post-medieval example from Ballyvergin was cut into a field boundary and in this it resembles the other kiln sites (at Bricketstown 00E0626 and 00E0476 and at Harristown Little 00E0417), which are all associated with ditch complexes that have been interpreted as relict field boundaries.

Permanent structure limekilns fall into two basic types, draw kilns or flare kilns. The type found at Bricketstown (00E0476) fits into descriptions of flare kilns. These kilns were operated by placing a single consignment of stones (such as limestone, marble or chalk) and interspersed with fuel such as fuel and charcoal. These were loaded from the top of the kiln. These stones contain calcite (calcium carbonate) which can be heated to produce calcined lime or quicklime (CaCO3 + heat → CaO + CO2). The heat source came from the hearth which was lit at the base of the kiln. These needed to be big fires as heating only at low temperatures causes a reversible reaction, and allows the re-absorption of atmos-pheric carbon dioxide. The process is only reversible if temperatures have exceeded 900ºC, releasing all the carbon dioxide. Once the fire was lit it required several days of burning before the limestone was calcined. The end product, quicklime, was retrieved from the bottom of the kiln. The entire procedure of lime burning was “more an art than a science”, being dependent on the weather (wind strength and direction) and the quality of both raw materials and fuel supplied (Bick 1984).

Quicklime is an alkaline crystalline solid which is caustic but it has several uses; used in building work as a bonding agent (an ingredient in mortar), in render, in whitewash, and as fertiliser (Rynne 1999), although its use for the latter purpose in Ireland generally dates to the period around the mid

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seventeenth century (Ó Drisceoil 2004-5). The date returned from charcoal in this Bricketstown kiln may overlap with this (cal AD 1450-1650). Rynne (1999, 29) notes that most small limekilns, citing as example a stone-built kiln with a 2.2 m diameter bowl (Power et al. 1994, 334), were probably used only intermittently for the production of small quantities of lime to be used for agricultural purposes. The bowl of this Bricketstown kiln was a similar small size, perhaps indicating that its primary use was for the production of agricultural lime.

By the late seventeenth century thousands of acres in Ireland had been improved by manuring and liming, including areas of Co. Wexford, where “all sorts of excellent bread, corn, grain, orchards, fruits, sweet herbs, meadows, pastures for all sorts of cattle” were the produce of land that was “not naturally fertile” (Molyneux 1680s, cited in Clarkson and Crawford 2001, 15-16). By the late eight-eenth century Young (1780) commented that the Irish farmers were accomplished lime burners, and that this was the primary form of “manure” or fertiliser that they used.

The working surface, situated 30 m south of the kiln, was identified as an earlier, feature based on the assemblage of medieval pottery (Leinster Cooking Ware, see Appendix 4). Numerous sherds of Leinster Cooking Ware were also found during excavation of the moated site at Carrowreagh, 1.3 km northwest, and three contexts associated with this pottery type produced radiocarbon dates from cal AD 1300-1430. This suggests that the work surface at Bricketstown may have predated use of the kiln (use dated to between cal AD 1450-1650 (Beta 219132). However, the deposit that the pottery was taken from resembles a dump of material (slag was also found) and it may simply represent the clearing away of waste from an earlier settlement or industrial area.

The kiln was associated with several ditches, probably relict field boundaries and it truncated one of these, indicating that construction of the kiln predated the enclosure of the land and the formation of some of the boundaries. These marked property boundaries, protected arable fields against wild and domestic animals, enclosed domestic animals to protect from predators, and provided shelter, etc. (see Groenman-van Waateringe 1981). Some of the field boundary ditches evidently enclosed the furrows that ran northwest-southeast across the southern part of the site. All of the limekilns excavated along the route of the N25 Rathsillagh-Harristown road were associated with ditches that have been inter-preted as field boundaries. Kilns are often associated with boundaries as they were frequently cut into banks to provide shelter during firing and to facilitate top loading of the kiln.

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10 SummaryThe site comprised six archaeological parts; early land divisions (ditches), a limekiln, a working surface, a hearth with stakeholes, later land divisions (ditches) and furrows. The latest features were ridge and furrows, they were bound by ditches which acted as field divisions and/or drains. Underlying the fur-rows two separate areas of activity were encountered. The first of these consisted of a number of stake-holes and a hearth, while the second was a working surface. The kiln, which post-dated one of the field boundaries, was also excavated. The archaeological excavation at this site indicates continuous agrarian and quasi-industrial activity in the area from the late medieval period onwards. The division of land, through the use of ditches and implied banks, both before and after use of the kiln, draws attention to the sub-division and consolidation of property through time.

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11 ReferencesBennett, I. 2004-5. ‘Archaeological Excavations in Co. Wexford’, Journal of the Wexford Historical

Society 20, 184-196.

Bick, D. 1984. ‘Limekiln on the Gloucestershire-Herefordshire border’, Industrial Archaeology Review VII (1), 85-93.

Campbell, K. 1987 ‘The archaeology of medieval Drogheda’, Archaeology Ireland 2.

Campbell, K. 2001 ‘Tullyallen 5, Co. Meath’, in Bennett, I. (ed.) Excavations 1998. Bray, Wordwell.

Clarkson, L.A. and Crawford, E.M. 2001. Feast and Famine. Food and Nutrition in Ireland 1500-1920. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Cleary, R.M. 1998. ‘Dromthacker’, pp. 85-86 in I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 1997. Bray, Wordwell.

Colfer, B. 1987. ‘Anglo-Norman Settlement in County Wexford’, pp. 65-101 in Whelan, K. (ed.) Wexford History and Society. Interdisciplinary essays on the history of an Irish county. Dublin, Geography Publications.

Colfer, B. 1990-1991. ‘Medieval Wexford’, Journal of the Wexford Historical Society 13, 4-29.

Conway, M. 1998. ‘Ballymount Great, Co. Dublin’, in Bennett, I. (ed.) Excavations 1997. No. 079.

Cotter, C. 1986. ‘MacMurroughs, Co. Wexford’, in Cotter, C. (ed.) Excavations 1985. Dublin, Irish Academic Publication for Organisation of Irish Archaeologists.

Cummins, T. 1999. ‘Bohercrow Road, Murgasty, Co. Tipperary’ in Bennett, I. (ed.) Excavations 1998. Bray, Wordwell.

Delaney, D. 2000. ‘Custom House, Flood Street/Courthouse Lane, Galway’, in Bennett, I. (ed.) Excavations 1999. Bray, Wordwell.

Elder, S. 2001. ‘Archaeological Monitoring Report 00E0379’, Unpublished report for Eachtra Archaeological Projects.

Green, S. W. and Zvelebil, M. 1990. ‘The Mesolithic colonisation and agricultural transition of south-east Ireland’, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 56, 57-88.

Groenman-van Waateringe, W. 1981. ‘Field boundaries in Ireland’, pp. 285-290 in Ó Corráin (ed.) Irish Antiquity. Dublin, Four Courts Press.

Hale, J., Heinemeier, J., Lancaster, L., Lindroos, A. and Ringbom, A. 2003. ‘Dating ancient mortar’, American Scientist 91 (2).

21



Hayden, A. 1999. ‘8-9 Lower Abbey Street Sligo’, in Bennett, I. (ed.) Excavations 1998. Bray, Wordwell.

Howarth, O.J.R. 1911. A Geography of Ireland. London, Oxford Geographies.

McCarthy, M. 2004. ‘Strandfield, Co. Wexford’, pp. 520-521 in Bennett, I. (ed.) Excavations 2002. Bray, Wordwell.

McLoughlin, C. 2004. ‘Kerlogue’, pp.517-518 in Bennet, I. (ed.) Excavations 2002. Bray, Wordwell.

Mitchell, F. and Ryan, M. 1997. Reading the Irish Landscape. Dublin, Town House.

Monk, M. and Kelleher, E. 2005. ‘An assessment of the archaeological evidence fro Irish corn-drying kilns in the light of the results of archaeological experiments and archaeobotanical studies’, Journal of Irish Archaeology XIV.

Moore, M. 1996. Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford. The Stationary Office, Dublin.

Moran, J. 2000. ‘Ballyanne, Co. Wexford’, in Bennett, I. (ed.) Excavations 1998. Bray, Wordwell.

Moran, J. 2001. ‘Tinnamoona, Chapel Lane, Callan’, in Bennett, I. (ed.) Excavations 2000. Bray, Wordwell.

Murphy, D. 2000. ‘Former Drogheda Grammar School, Laurence’s Street, Drogheda’, in I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 1999. Bray, Wordwell.

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2004-5. ‘Excavation of a Limerkiln at Danceastle, Carrick-on-Bannow’, Journal of the Wexford Historical Society 20, 203-208.

O’Keeffe, T. 2000. Medieval Ireland, An Archaeology. Stroud, Tempus.

O’Kelly, M.J. 1975. ‘Archaeological Survey and Excavation of St. Vogue’s Church, Enclosure and Other Monuments st Carnsore, Co. Wexford’, Unpublished excavation report for the Electricity Supply Board.

Power, D., Lane, S., Byrne, E., Egan, U., Sleeman, M., Cotter, E. and Monk, J. 2000. Archaeological Inventory of County Cork Vol. 4 Part 2. Dublin, The Stationery Office.

Purcell, J. 2004. ‘St. Vogue’s’, p.520 in Bennet, I. (ed.) Excavations 2002. Bray, Wordwell.

Purcell, A. 2002. ‘Courtlands East, Co. Wexford’, in Bennett, I. (ed.) Excavations 2000. Bray, Wordwell.

Quinn, A. 2006. ‘Mondaniel 3 03E1094 Co. Cork’, in Bennett, I. (ed.) Excavations 2003. Bray,

22



Wordwell.

Rynne, C. 1999. The Industrial Archaeology of Cork City and its Environs. Dublin, Government of Ireland.

Stout, G. 1987. ‘Wexford in Prehistory 5000 B.C. to 300 A.D.’, pp.1-39 in Whelan, K. (ed.) Wexford History and Society. Interdisciplinary essays on the history of an Irish county. Dublin, Geography Publications.

Stowell, F.P. 1963. Limestone as a raw material. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Sweetman, P.D. 1976. ‘Kilkenny’, in Delaney, T. (ed.) Excavations 1975.

Walsh, C. 1997. Archaeolgical Excavations at Patrick, Nicholas and Winetavern Streets, Dublin. Kerry, Brandon.

Young, A. 1780. A Tour in Ireland. Dublin.

11.1 Websiteswww.nra.ie/Archaeology/LeafletandPosterSeries

Maps reproduced under licence where appropriate Ordnance Survey Ireland Licence No. AU 0005603 © Government of Ireland

23



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27



Figure 5: Plan of excavated area within the context of modern field and road boundaries

28



Figure 6: Plan of the excavated area showing the three main areas of archaeological activity (kiln, hearth and stakeholes, the working surface) and ditches

1m0

C. 3

C.10

C.5

C.2

C.6

C.7

C.8

W 0m E 1.20m

W 0m E 1.30m

Natural

Natural

29



Figure 7: Sections through early land division ditches (C.5 and C.8)

30



Figure 8: Post-excavation plan of the kiln bowl and flue (C.54 and C.19)

31



Figure 9: Mid-excavation plan of the kiln bowl and flue (C.54 and C.19)

1m0

C.143

C.141

C.154

C.143

32



Figure 10: Earliest activity at the medieval work surface (C.154 and C.141)

33



Figure 11: Work surface truncated by furrows (C.80 and C.81)

C.99

C.101

C.129

C.131C.133

C.103

C.123

C.97

C.105

C.107

C.109

34



Figure 12: Area with hearth (C.97) and stakeholes

1m0

C.2

C.4

C.13

C.14 C.15

E 5.00N 0.64

E 5.00N 4.98

Natural

35



Figure 13: Section through later land division ditch (C.15)

36



Plate 1: Pre-excavation of kiln and ditches showing the kiln flue cutting the early ditch

13 Plates

Plate 2: Stone-lined flue at the base of the kiln bowl

37



Plate 3: Lime residues at the base of the kiln bowl

Plate 4: Layers of burnt clay and charcoal within the kiln flue

38



Plate 5: Rake-out banked onto the southeast side of the flue

Plate 6: Re-cut of the kiln bowl

39



Plate 7: Pre-excavation shot of parallel furrows traversing the site

Plate 8: Millstone fragments recovered during topsoil removal(photograph: John Sunderland)

40



Plate 9: Mid excavation of kiln showing splayed flue

Plate 10: Post-excavation of kiln bowl showing baked substratum in kiln

41



C. No. Type Description Finds Over Under1 Topsoil - - - -2 ditch fill (C.8) brown silty clay with pebbles none 6 13 ditch fill (C.5) brown silty clay with moderate pebbles an occ

charcoal flecksnone 10 1

4 ditch fill (C.15) brown silty clay mod sub-angular pebbles and small/medium sub-angular stones with occa-sional flecks and small pieces of charcoal

none 13 1

5 Ditch cut NE-SW linear cut none Nat 106 ditch fill (C.8) redeposited natural - brownish yellow silty clay none 7 27 ditch fill (C.8) mid brown silty clay with moderate medium/

coarse pebblesnone 8 6

8 Ditch cut NE-SW linear cut none Nat 79 pit fill (C.12) light yellowish brown sandy silt with frequent

angular pebbles and small stones and flecks of scorched clay

none 11 1

10 ditch fill (C.5) light yellowish brown silty clay with freq fine pebbles0

none 5 3

11 pit fill (C.12) mid reddish brown sandy silt with frequent peb-bles and occasional small stones

none 12 9

12 Pit cut sub-circular cut none 16 1113 ditch fill (C.15) mid orange silty clay with moderate sub-angular/

angular pebbles and stones2 (pottery) 14 4

14 ditch fill (C.15) Burnt clay and charcoal - dark orange silty clay with occ angular pebbles and small stones

none 15 13

15 Ditch cut E-W linear cut none Nat 1416 Flue fill (C.19) yellowish brown sandy silt with moderate

subangular coarse pebbles and small stones and occasional flecks of burnt natural and charcoal

none 17 12

17 Spread/fill of Flue (C.19) dark yellowish brown sandy silt with moderate sub-angular pebbles and small stones with oc-casional flecks of charcoal and moderate flecks of scorched natural

none 23 16

18 Flue fill (C.19) yellowish brown sandy silt with frequent fine/medium pebbles and occasional flecks of char-coal and burnt natural

none 23 16

19 Cut of kiln flue - - - -20 Flue fill (C.19) yellowish brown sandy silt with moderate sub-

angular pebbles and occasional flecks of charcoalnone 31 12

21 ditch fill (C.5) ligth reddish orange silty clay with moderate angular/sub-angular fine/medium pebbles

none 5 25

22 deposit Small spread of reddish pink sandy silt material with occasional fine sub-angular pebbles

none 23 12

23 fill Large mid yellowish brown gravel fill none 26 1824 ditch fill (C.35) dark brown silty clay with occ flecks and small

pieces of charcoal, occasional flecks of burnt clay, moderate pebbles and fine/medium stones

none 27 1

25 ditch fill (C.5) brown sandy silt with moderate fine/medium angular/sub-angular pebbles

none 21 1

26 Kiln fill dark reddish black sand with occ charcoal flecks and sub-angular medium pebbles and small stones

none 30 23

14 Appendices

14.1 Appendix 1: Context Register

42



C. No. Type Description Finds Over Under27 ditch fill (C.35) redeposited natural - dark brownish orange

with moderate angular/sub-angular stones and pebbles with occasional flecks of burnt clay and charcoal

none 35 24

28 Kiln fill brownish black sandy silt with moderate angular pebbles and charcoal flecks with occasional pieces of charcoal

none 67 23

29 Flue fill mottled yellowish brown sandy silt - frequent sub-angular pebbles, occasional charcoal flecks

none 38 1

30 Kiln fill yellowish brown pebbley silt with small/medium sub-angular stones

none 31 26

31 Black fill of kiln (C.19) dark brownish black sandy clay with occasional fine sub-angular pebbles and medium sub-rounded stones, frequent flecks of charcoal

none 32 30

32 Kiln fill light brownish grey pebbley silt with frequent angular pebbles and small stones

none 33 31

33 Kiln fill dark greyish black sandy silt with moderate sub-angular pebbles and occasional small stones and pieces of charcoal, frequent charcoal flecks

none 34 32

34 Flue fill of (C.19) Yellowish grey/brown silty shale with occasional flecks of burnt natural

none 36 33

35 Ditch cut E-W linear cut none Nat 2736 Flue fill of (C.19) Black-purple sandy silt - frequent sub-angular

pebbles, occasional small stones, frequent flecks of charcoal, occasional small pieces of charcoal and burnt natural

none 39 34

37 Flue fill of (C.19) orangish brown sandy silt - moderate sub-an-gular pebbles, occasioanl small stones, frequent small pieces of burnt natural

none 39 30

38 Flue fill of (C.19) reddish brown silty clay - angular/sub-angular fine/medium pebbles, moderate flecks and small pieces of charcoal

none 43 29

39 Flue fill of (C.19) reddish brown sandy silt - frequent angular peb-bles and small stones, moderate large pieces of burnt natural and occasional charcoal flecks

none 40 37

40 Flue fill of (C.19) dark brownish black sandy silt - moderate sub-angular pebbles and charcoal flecks

none 41 39

41 Possible fill of 19 light reddish orande sandy silt with frequent charcoal flecks

none 42 40

42 Flue backfill (C.19) yellowish brown sandy silt - moderate sub-an-gular pebbles and occasional small stones and charcoal flecks

none 44 41

43 Flue fill of (C.19) mottled silty clay - frequent sub-angular fine/medium pebbles, moderate flecks and small pieces of charcoal

none 45 38

44 Fill of corn dryer brownish yellow sandy silt - frequent sub-angu-lar pebbles, moderate charcoal flecks

none 47 42

45 Flue fill of (C.19) brown sandy silt - moderate angular/sub-angular fine/medium pebbles, occasional charcoal flecks

none 88 43

46 Fill of corn dryer light yellowish grey gravel - sub-angular me-dium/coarse pebbles, small angular stones

none 47 39

47 Flue fill of (C.19) dark greyish brown sandy silt - moderate fine/medium angular pebbles, occasional charcoal flecks

none - 44

48 Dark brown material dark brown silty clay with moderate stones and pebbles and moderate flecks and small pieces of charcoal

pot? 82 1

43



C. No. Type Description Finds Over Under49 furrow fill (C.80) dark brown silty clay with moderate pebbles and

occasional charcoal fleckspot? 80 1

50 furrow fill (C.81) dark brown silty clay with moderate pebbles and occasional charcoal flecks

pot? 81 1

51 deposit Burnt clay - dark orangish red silty clay with moderate pebbles and small stones

millstone 78 1

52 Kiln lining Yellowish orange burnt sandy clay - frequent fine sub-angular pebbles

none 33 44

53 Kiln fill Shaley lump brownish grey pebbley sand none 55 5254 Cut of flue - - - -55 lense/fill yellowish brown Gravelly sand silt none 56 5356 Kiln fill dark bluish black silty sand - frequent angular

fine pebbles, occasional small stones, moderate charcoal flecks

none 60 55

57 furrow fill - - - -58 furrow fill - - - -59 pit fill (C.97) burnt clay - reddish brown silty clay with oc-

casional small stonesnone 96 123

60 Kiln fill yellowish brown gravelly silt none 62 5661 Flue fill mid brownish red sandy silt - frequent angu-

lar/sub-angular fin/medium pebbles, occasional charcoal flecks

none - 29

62 Kiln fill dark bluish black sandy silt - moderate angular pebbles and small stones, occasional charcoal flecks

none 64 60

63 Flue fill mottled sandy silt - frequent angular/sub-angu-lar fine/medium pebbles

none 74 29

64 Spread light grey pebbles none 66 6265 Spread brown sandy silt - frequent angular fine/medium

pebblesnone 66 44?

66 Kiln fill dark bluish brown sandy silt - moderate angular pebbles, occasional sub-angular medium stones

none 67 65

67 Kiln fill dark reddish brown silty sand - moderate sub-angular fine pebbles and small/medium stones, occasional charcoal flecks

none 69 66

68 Kiln fill mid orange sandy silt 0 occasional angular fine pebbles and sub-rounded small stones

none 69 41

69 Kiln fill dark brownish black sandy silt - moderate sub-angular pebbles and charcoal flecks

none 70 67

70 Kiln fill green sandy silt - moderate sub-angular pebbles, occasional sub-angular medium stones

none 72 69

71 Kiln fill greyish brown pebbley silt - moderate sub-angu-lar/angular pebbles, occasuional small sub-angu-lar stones

none 72 69

72 Kiln fill greyish brown sandy silt - occasional angular fine/med pebbles, occasional sub-angular me-dium stones, occasional flecks of charcoal and large pieces of scorched/burnt natural

none 73 71

73 Kiln fill greyish orange sandy silt - moderate sub-angular pebbles, occasional small angular stones, oc-casional flecks of charcoal

none 76 72

74 Flue fill mottled sandy silt - frequent angular pebbles, occasional charcoal flecks

none 77 63

75 Kiln fill dark bluish black sandy silt - moderate angular pebbles and small stones, occasional charcoal flecks

none 79 72

44



C. No. Type Description Finds Over Under76 Kiln fill firm sandy silt - moderate angular pebbles, oc-

casional medium sub-rounded stones, moder-ate medium/large pieces of mortar (lime) and frequent flecks of charcoal

none 79 73

77 Flue fill light yellowish green ashy silt - occasional fine angular pebbles

none 83 74

78 Charcoal spread black silty clay with moderate pebbles and fre-quent charcoal flecks and small pieces

none 82 51

79 Possible kiln fill dark brownish black sandy silt - moderate sub-angular pebbles

none - 76

80 Furrow cut NW-SE linear cut none Nat 4981 Furrow cut NW-SE linear cut none 93 5082 Layer Mixed - dark greyish brown silty clay with

moderate pebbles and stones and flecks to small pieces of burnt clay and charcoal

none 93 78

83 Flue fill brown silty clay - moderate sub-angular pebbles none 88 7784 Kiln fill reddish brown sandy silt - occasional fine/coarse

angular pebbles, occasional angular small stones, moderate flecks of burnt orange clay

none 85 75

85 Kiln fill brown sandy silt - occasional sub-angular peb-bles and angular small stones, occasional flecks and small pieces of charcoal, moderate flecks of burnt lining

none 86 84

86 Kiln fill bluish brown sandy silt - occasional angular pebbles, occasional flecks of charcoal and burnt lining

none 87 85

87 Kiln fill brown sandy silt - moderate angular fine peb-bles, occasional sub-rounded coarse pebbles and small stones, occasional flecks of charcoal and burnt natural

none 126 86

88 Flue fill mottled sandy silt - frequent angular/sub-angu-lar fine/medium pebbles, occasional charcoal flecks

none 111 83

89 Kiln fill reddish brown sandy silt - moderate angular fine pebbles, occasional sub-rounded coarse pebbles, occasional flecks of charcoal

none 90 85

90 Kiln fill dark bluish black clayey silt - frequent angular/sub-angular fine pebbles, moderate angular/sub-angular medium pebbles and occasional sub-an-gular coarse pebbles and flecks of charcoal

none 110 85

91 Kiln fill light greenish grey silty clay - frequent angular/sub-angular fine pebbles, moderate sub-angular stones, frequent small pieces and flecks of mor-tar, moderate flecks of charcoal.

none 110 76

92 deposit redposted natural - dark brownish orange silty clay with moderate stones and pebbles and charcoal flecks (and small pieces). Also included moderate small pieces/flecks of burnt clay

yes 140 137

93 deposit charcoal - black silty clay with moderate pebbles and freq small charcoal

pot? 137 82

94 Kiln fill mid orange silty sand - moderate sub-angular pebbles, occasional sub-angular small stones, frequent large pieces of mortar, occasional flecks of charcoal

none 136 112

95 Flue fill bluish grey sandy silt - frequent angular/sub-an-gular pebbles, moderate small pieces of charcoal

none - 88

96 pit fill (C.97) brownish grey silty clay with occasional small stones

none 97 59

45



C. No. Type Description Finds Over Under97 Pit cut circular cut with steep sides none Nat 9698 stakehole fill mid brown silty clay with small stones unsorted none 99 -99 Stakehole cut sub-circular cut none Nat 98100 stakehole fill mid reddish brown silty clay with small angular

stonesnone 101 -

101 Stakehole cut circular cut none Nat 101102 stakehole fill mid brown silty clay with moderate small angu-

lar stones and occasion charcoalnone 103 -

103 Stakehole cut oval cut none Nat 102104 stakehole fill reddish brown silty clay with occasional charcoal

flecks and moderate angular stonesnone 105 -

105 Stakehole cut circular cut none Nat 104106 stakehole fill mid brown silty clay with occasional small

angular stonesnone 107 -

107 Stakehole cut oblong cut none Nat 106108 stakehole fill light brown silty clay with v. occasional charcoal

and occasional small sub-angular stonesnone 109 -

109 Stakehole cut sub-circular cut none Nat 108110 Kiln fill brownish orange silty sand - moderate sub-an-

gular pebbles, occasional small angular stones, frequent flecks of charcoal

none 116 90

111 Flue fill light greenish yellow, moderate sub-angular fine pebbles, occasional angular medium pebbles

none - 88

112 Kiln fill dark reddish brown sandy silt - frequent angular/sub-angular fine pebbles, occasional sub-angular medium pebbles

none - 110

113 Kiln fill dark orangish brown sandy silt - moderate angu-lar/sub-angular fine pebbles, occasional angular coarse pebbles/small stones, frequent small pieces and flecks of charcoal

none 117 110

114 Flue Stone lined and linteled flue running under and into kiln

none - 162

115 Kiln fill dark brownish black sandy silt - occasional angular medium pebbles/ small stones, frequent fine angular/sub-angular pebbles, moderate sangular/sub-angular medium stones, occasional charcoal flecks

none - 110

116 Kiln fill reddish orange sandy silt - moderate angular fine/medium pebbles, occasional sub-rounded coarse pebbles/small stones, frequent charcoal flecks

none 134 110

117 Kiln fill grey sandy silt - occasional sub-angular pebbles, very occasional sub-rounded stones, occasional flecks of charcoal and burnt lining

none - 113

122 stakehole fill reddish brown gravel with some silty clay and occasional charcoal flecks

none 123 -

123 Stakehole cut sub-circular cut none 59 122124 Fill of flue plug bluish brown sandy silt - frequent sub-angular

pebbles, occasional sub-angular small stones and flecks of burnt soil

none - -

125 Flue fill red sandy silt - frequent fine angular pebbles, occasional medium sized clinker

none 139 95

126 Fill of flue plug light yellowish brown sandy silt - moderate angular/sub-angular pebbles, occasional small/medium sub-angular stones, moderate charcoal flecks

none 87 124

46



C. No. Type Description Finds Over Under127 Fill of flue plug light brown sandy silt - moderate angular/sub-

angular pebbles, occasional sub-rounded small stones, moderate charcoal flecks and small pieces of burnt lining

none 114 126

128 stakehole fill dark brown silty clay with moderate charcoal flecks and occasional small angular stones

none 129 -

129 Stakehole cut sub-circular cut none Nat 128130 stakehole fill light reddish brown silty clay with occasional

slate fragments and small angular stonesnone 131 -

131 Stakehole cut circular cut none Nat 130132 stakehole fill mid brown silty clay with occasional small angu-

lar stones and charcoal flecksnone 133 -

133 Stakehole cut circular cut none Nat 132134 Small fill yellowish orange silty sand - moderate sub-angu-

lar pebbles and flecks of charcoalnone - 116

135 Kiln fill brownish orange silty sand - moderate sub-angular pebbles, occasional small sub-angular stones,moderate flecks of charcoal

none - 116

136 Kiln fill (basal stones) yellowish orange silty pebbles - moderate small pieces and flecks of charcoal and moderate mor-tar pieces of all sizes

none - 117

137 Burnt clay dark orangish red silty clay with moderate peb-bles and occasional charcoal

none 92 93

138 Area of hearth activity orangish red silty sand - moderate sub-angular fine/medium pebbles, moderate flecks and small pieces of charcoal

none 54 125

139 Charcoal spread black silty sand - moderate fine sub-angular pebbles

none 54 125

140 deposit burnt clay - dark orangish red silty clay with moderate pebbles and small stones and occa-sional charcoal

none 143 92

141 Possible cut N-S sub-circular cut none Nat 140142 Stone layer first layer of medium/large mostly sub-angular

stonesnone - 134

143 charcoal spread dark brownish black silty clay with moderate pebbles and frequent charcoal

none Nat 140

144 Flue plug fill reddish brown sandy silt - occasional sub-angu-lar pebbles

none - -

145 Flue plug fill light brownish yellow sandy silt - moderate sub-angular pebbles, occasional sub-angular small stones

none - 144

146 Flue plug fill reddish brown sandy silt - moderate sub-angular pebbles and small stones, moderate flecks and small pieces of burnt lining

none - 145

148 deposit brown silty clay with occasional small stones none 157 114153 stakehole fill orangish red silty clay with fine/medium pebbles none 154 140154 Stakehole cut circular cut none Nat 153155 Channel fill N/W orangish brown sandy silt - occasional sub-angu-

lar fine pebbles, frequent small pieces/flecks of lime mortar, moderate flecks of charcoal

none 157 160

156 Channel fill S/W orangish brown sandy silt - occasional sub-angu-lar fine pebbles, frequent small pieces/flecks of lime mortar, moderate flecks of charcoal

none 157 160

157 Cut of circular channel circular cut none - -158 Fill of circular channel orangish brown sandy silt - occasional sub-angu-

lar fine pebbles, frequent small pieces/flecks of lime mortar, moderate flecks of charcoal

none 157 160

47



C. No. Type Description Finds Over Under159 Cut of cross channel crossed linear none - -160 Circular layer stones sub-angular/angular stones none 155 -161 fill (C.159) orangish brown sandy silt - frequent large pieces

of mortarnone - 159

162 Stone Lintel two substantial stones which collapsed none 148 134?167 ditch fill brown silty clay with freq small angular stones Pot sherd 168 1168 Ditch cut E-W linear cut none Nat 167169 Kiln fill/lining dark greyish black sandy silt none - -170 Kiln material dark bluish reddish brown sandy silt - moderate

sub-angular fine pebbles and small stones, mod-erate small pieces of burnt lining and charcoal flecks

none 171 -

171 Re-cut sub-circular cut none - 170172 Spread within flue black silty clay - moderate angular fine/medium

pebblesnone 54 138

173 Mottled spread in kiln mottled sandy silt - frequent angular/sub-an-gular fine/medium pebles, frequent flecks to medium pieces of charcoal

none 19 0

48



14.2 Appendix 2: Stratigraphic Matrix

Please see attached CD for Stratigraphic Matrix

49



Licence No. Context No. Find No. Material Description Comments00E0476 1 1 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 2 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 3 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 4 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 5 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 6 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 7 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 8 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 9 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 10 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 11 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 12 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 13 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 14 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 15 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 16 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 17 Pottery Body sherd Find from monitoring00E0476 1 18 Stone Millstone fragment Find from monitoring00E0476 1 19 Stone Millstone fragment Find from monitoring00E0476 2 1 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 13 1 Pottery Rim sherd from cooking jar decorated with

external pinching00E0476 48 1 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 48 2 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 48 3 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 48 4 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 48 5 Pottery Crumbs (x2)00E0476 48 6 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 48 7 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 48 8 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 48 9 Pottery Body sherd Lamp sherd (Class 1)00E0476 48 10 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 48 11 Pottery Rim sherd from a short-necked cooking jar00E0476 48 12 Pottery Crumbs (x12)00E0476 48 13 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 48 14 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 48 15 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 48 16 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 48 17 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 48 18 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 49 1 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 49 2 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 49 3 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 49 4 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 49 5 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 50 1 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 50 2 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 50 3 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 50 4 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 50 5 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 50 6 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 50 7 Pottery Crumbs (x7)00E0476 50 8 Pottery Body sherd

14.3 Appendix 3: Finds register

50



Licence No. Context No. Find No. Material Description Comments00E0476 50 9 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 50 10 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 50 11 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 50 12 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 50 13 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 50 14 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 50 15 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 50 16 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 50 17 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 50 18 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 50 19 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 50 20 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 82 1 Pottery Crumbs (x20)00E0476 82 2 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 3 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 4 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 5 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 6 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 7 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 8 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 9 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 10 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 11 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 12 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 13 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 14 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 15 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 16 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 17 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 18 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 19 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 20 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 21 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 22 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 23 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 24 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 25 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 26 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 27 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 28 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 29 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 30 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 31 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 32 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 33 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 34 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 35 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 36 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 37 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 38 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 39 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 40 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 41 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 42 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 43 Pottery Crumbs (x5)

51



Licence No. Context No. Find No. Material Description Comments00E0476 82 44 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 45 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 46 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 47 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 48 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 49 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 50 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 51 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 52 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 53 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 54 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 55 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 56 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 57 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 58 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 59 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 60 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 61 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 62 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 63 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 64 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 65 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 66 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 67 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 68 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 69 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 70 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 71 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 72 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 73 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 74 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 75 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 82 76 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 82 77 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 82 78 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 82 79 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 82 80 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 81 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 82 82 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 82 83 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 82 84 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 82 85 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 82 86 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 82 87 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 82 88 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 92 1 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 92 2 Pottery Crumbs (x7)00E0476 92 3 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 4 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 5 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 6 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 7 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 8 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 9 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 10 Pottery Body sherd

52



Licence No. Context No. Find No. Material Description Comments00E0476 92 11 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 12 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 13 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 14 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 15 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 16 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 17 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 18 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 19 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 20 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 92 21 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 92 22 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 92 23 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 92 24 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 25 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 26 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 27 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 28 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 29 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 92 30 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 92 31 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 92 32 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 92 33 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 92 34 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 92 35 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 93 1 Pottery Crumbs (x3)00E0476 93 2 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 3 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 4 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 5 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 6 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 7 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 8 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 9 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 10 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 11 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 12 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 13 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 14 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 15 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 16 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 17 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 18 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 19 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 20 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 21 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 22 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 23 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 24 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 25 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 26 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 27 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 28 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 29 Pottery Body sherd Possible platter or thick, flat slab

used as a serving dish

53



Licence No. Context No. Find No. Material Description Comments00E0476 93 30 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 31 Pottery Rim sherd00E0476 93 32 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 33 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 34 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 35 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 36 Pottery Body sherd00E0476 93 37 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 93 38 Pottery Base sherd00E0476 93 39 Pottery Handle sherd00E0476 167 1 Pottery Body sherd

54



14.4 Appendix 4: The medieval pottery from Bricketstown, Taghmon

By Clare McCutcheon MA MIAI

Introduction

A total of 225 sherds of pottery were presented for study. During the numbering process, many sherds had been reassembled but following some further reassembly within and between contexts, this was reduced to 202 sherds. All of the pottery from this site consists of Leinster Cooking Ware.

Methodology

The sherds have been identified visually and the information entered on a database table (Access for-mat) as per the requirements of the National Museum of Ireland, the body responsible for the material remains from excavations within the state. The database shows the licence, context and finds number; the links of reassembled sherds within and between contexts; the category and type of material i.e. ce-ramic and pottery; the identification of the fabric type and the diagnostic description i.e. rim, handle etc. This is followed by two location fields, the first of which shows the box number where each sherd is stored. The second is a blank field for the use of the National Museum of Ireland to show the location of the box within their storage system. The database is easily searchable for particular types of pottery, vessels parts etc. and is also appropriate for all other small finds recovered from the site. The two fields showing links and description are not specifically required by the National Museum of Ireland but have been inserted by this researcher in the course of considerable work on small finds from urban ex-cavations, including pottery. They fulfil the necessity of indicating the diagnostic part of the vessel re-covered but can also be useful to indicate stick pin type, nail type etc. in the case of metal artefacts.

The Site

The site is located approximately 2 miles north of Taghmon village, and is described as an area of agri-cultural activity with a limekiln to the north. While seventeen sherds were recovered from monitoring in Fields 45, and three sherds from ditch fills, the balance of 182 sherds was recovered from the clay and charcoal surface and subsequent furrows in the work area thought to be associated with the kiln.

Leinster Cooking Ware

This is the most widely found fabric type in medieval Ireland (Ó Floinn 1988) with vessels found from Dundalk to Wexford and from Dungarvan through to Cashel. The fabric is very distinctive with quartz and feldspar but primarily characterised by visible mica platelets. While similar clay can be found in Dublin-type cooking ware and other locally-made cooking wares of the period, the method of construction and firing leaves the typical Leinster Cooking Ware vessels with an easily recognisable sand-pitted base. The primary vessel type is the standard cooking jar, with everted rim, ovoid body and sagging, sand-pitted base. Two cooking jars are represented, based on the profile of the surviving rim sherds. One rim

55



sherd (00E0476:48:11) has a short neck while all others have very similar longer necks. One rim sherd was decorated with external pinching (00E0476:13:1) but this may be part of one of the two cooking jars, as decoration on rims was often spaced or intermittent rather than continuous. The second vessel type recorded is a lamp, represented by a single sherd (00E0476:48:9), in a shape based on the imported cresset lamps (Moore 1987). The shape of the Class 1 lamps is that of a column with flared top and base and with no discernible shaft. Some of the Leinster Cooking Ware lamps have been hollowed out at one end with slight cup at the other. The shallow dish is the end used for the wick and light and the longer hollowing would not have allowed for a flame but was probably used to reduce the drying time of the clay and to assist in firing. This was not entirely successful, however, and many lamp sherds are recognisable only as crumbly underfired clay lumps. These parts come from the centre of the lamp, while the exterior can be recognised by the smoothed surface. A large number of such fragments were recovered from an excavation at Coolamurry townland, Co. Wexford (Mc-Cutcheon forthcoming). The final different sherd (00E0476:93:29) may represent a platter or thick, flat slab, possibly used as a serving dish.

Context Grid square Context description Sherd numbers Sherd quantity0 Field 45 Monitoring Feature 11: 1-5 50 Field 45 Monitoring Feature 12: 6-17 122 71 Fill of ditch (C.8) 1 113 58 Fill of ditch (C.15) 1 148 38 Clay layer over C.82 1-4 448 39 Clay layer over C.82 5-11 748 35 Clay layer over C.82 12-18 649 34 Fill of furrow (C.80) 1-2 249 35 Fill of furrow (C.80) 3-5 250 39 Fill of furrow (C.81) 1-6 650 38 Fill of furrow (C.81) 7-20 1382 38 Clay layer over C.93 1-42 3982 39 Clay layer over C.93 43-88 3992 39 Redeposited natural 1, 24-35 1392 38 Redeposited natural 2-23 1793 38 Charcoal spread over C.92 1-22 1893 39 Charcoal spread over C.92 23-39 16167 51 Fill of ditch 1 1

225 202

Table 2: Pottery quantities by context.

Bibliography

McCutcheon, C. forthcoming ‘The pottery’ in Excavations at Coolamurry 4, Co. Wexford.

Moore, M. 1984 ‘Irish cresset-stones’, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 104, 98-116.

Ó Floinn, R. 1988 ‘Handmade medieval pottery in S E Ireland’Leinster ware’ in G. Mac Niocaill & P.F. Wallace (eds), Kemelia, 325-49. Galway.

56



CALIB RATION OF RADIOCARBON AGE TO C ALEND AR Y EARS(Variables: C1 3/C12=-25.3:lab. m ult=1)

La borato ry number: Beta-219 132

Conventio nal radio ca rbon ag e: 350 ±40 BP2 Sigma calibra ted result:

(95% pro ba bility)Ca l AD 1 450 to 1 650 (Ca l BP 5 00 to 3 00)

In tercept dataIntercep ts o f radiocarbo n ag e

with calibratio n cu rve: Cal A D 15 10 (Cal BP 4 40) andCal A D 16 00 (Cal BP 3 50) andCal A D 16 20 (Cal BP 3 30)

1 Sigm a calibrated resu lts:(68% probability)

Cal A D 14 70 to 153 0 (Cal BP 48 0 to 4 20) andCal A D 15 50 to 163 0 (Cal BP 40 0 to 3 20)

4 98 5 S .W . 7 4th Co u rt, M ia mi, F lor id a 33 1 55 • Tel: (3 0 5) 66 7- 51 67 • Fa x: ( 30 5) 66 3 -09 6 4 • E -M ail: beta @ra dio ca rbo n.co mBeta Analytic Rad iocarbon Dating Laborato ry

T alm a, A. S., Voge l, J . C., 1993, Radioc arbon 35(2) , p317-322A S impl ifi ed App roach to Cali bratin g C14 D atesM ath em atic s

Stui ve r, M., e t. al., 1998, Radi ocarbon 40(3), p1041 -1083IN TCAL98 Radi ocarbon Age Calibrat ion

Stui ve r, M., v an der P l icht, H ., 1998, Radioc arbon 40(3), px ii-xi iiEdi torial C omme ntCal ibration D atabase

INT CAL98D atabase use d

References:

Rad

ioca

rbon

age

(BP

)

200

220

240

260

280

300

320

340

360

380

400

420

440

460

Charred m ateria l480

Cal A D1420 1440 1460 1480 1500 1520 1540 1560 1580 1600 1620 1640 1660

350±40 B P

Appendix5: Table of Radiocarbon Results from Bricketstown, Co. Wexford (00E0476) Analysis by Beta Analytic Inc.

Context Sample Identification Lab code

13C/12C Ratio

Radiocarbon Age

2 Sigma Calibration

69 61

Diffuse porous wood charcoal (Alnus/Salix/Populus/ Betula/Corylus/Prunus/ Ilex/Pomoideae)

Beta 219132

-25.3 o/oo

350 +/- 40 BP

cal AD 1450-1650

14.5 Appendix 5: Radiocarbon dates

57



14.6 Appendix 6: Archaeobotanical Assessment Report on the Charred Plant remains from Bricketstown

By Martha Tierney

Non-technical summary

The ecofact analysis of the samples from this site does not permit a definite interpretation of the func-tion of the site. The presence of only traces of charred seeds cannot be taken to indicate that cereal grains were not processed in this structure as it was only in the course of an accidental fire (perhaps sparks from the hearth at the mouth of the flue catching the thatched roof on the superstructure) that a cereal crop could become charred. And even if an accidental fire took place the kilns were likely to be cleaned out after the fire took place.

The charred seeds found in the assemblage are interpreted as crop processing chaff used as a firestarter in a hearth found between the kiln and the work area.

Introduction

This assessment report details the analysis of charred plant remains from soil samples taken during excavations at Bricketstown, Co. Wexford. The site comprised of several archaeological features, early ditches, a kiln, an industrial work area, hearths and stakeholes with field boundaries and plough fur-rows.Despite the apparent good potential of the archaeological features the archaeobotanical content of the samples was poor.

Methodology

The samples were collected on site as bulk soil samples. In the laboratory the sample volume, colour and texture were recorded. The samples were processed using a simple flotation method, where each sample was soaked in water to allow carbonised plant material to float; this ‘flot’ was then poured into a stack of sieves (2 mm, 1 mm, 500 microns, 250 microns). When all of the carbonised material was collected the flot was air-dried prior to storage.

The samples were scanned for organic content under a low-powered magnification and the organic remains were recorded in terms of abundance.

Results

A total of 45 samples from 44 contexts were analysed. Of these eighteen produced macroplant material which makes this one of the richest sites from this scheme.

58



The kiln bowl

A total of 9 soil samples from fills associated with the keyhole shaped kiln were examined. Only 5 of these deposits produced plant remains (C. 71, 85, 91, 112 and 115). Early burning episodes associated with the kiln context, both of which were rich in charcoal, did not produce charred plant remains. Fills C.112 & 115 are interpreted as kiln bowl fills which had collapsed into the chamber. Both showed evidence of being either directly or indirectly affected by heat, possibly illustrating heat related sub-sidence above the bowl. The one grain found in C.112 and the two indeterminate fragments of weed seeds in C.115 were poorly preserved. A fill located on the side of the flue (C.85), produced a couple of modern blackberry seed fragments. C. 71 contained a few poorly preserved indeterminate cereal frag-ments, while another kiln fill C.91 contained 3 indeterminate grain fragments.

The flue

A total of 9 fills from the flue were sampled and scanned (C. 16, 29, 38, 45, 61, 63, 77, 83, 95). The flue was backfilled by these fills putting the flue out of use. Of the nine flue fills only two (C. 45 & 95) produced plant remains. Charcoal flecks were found along with small fragments of burnt bone in one of the flue fills (C. 45) but no seeds were found. This deposit was interpreted by the excavators as the remains of an early kiln hearth rakeout event. Another flue fill (C. 95) contained modern blackberry seed fragments.

Hearth and stakeholes

Of the nine stakehole fills scanned, six contained charred grains (C. 98, 100, 104, 108, 130 & 153). These stakehole fills were located immediately north of the hearth and generally inclined towards a central point. C. 98 contained possible barley fragments (cf. Hordeum sp.). C. 100 included hazelnut shell fragments (Corylus avellana) and a possible wheat grain (cf. Triticum sp.), with no identifiable cereal fragments. Stakehole fills (C. 104, 108, 130 & 153) included indeterminate cereal grain frag-ments with possible oat rgains also found in C.104 (cf. Avena spp.). No plant remains were found in hearth deposit C.138.

The position of the hearth and stakeholes between the kiln and the working surface suggests that the hearth relates to associated activity. The recovery of cereal grains in the stakeholes suggests that the crop processing waste was used a tinder and that the charred remnants of this waste was blown against the upright stakes and subsequently trickled into the stakeholes.

Industrial work surface

An area to the south of the kiln has been interpreted as a work surface. During the monitoring of topsoil stripping in this area millstone fragments were found and the associated soil samples produced two poorly preserved indeterminate grass seed fragments (Avena sp.) along with cereal straw nodes and glume base rachis fragments.

59



No strong evidence of crop processing such as winnowing was found; indeed none would be expected as winnowing does not normally involve exposure to fire. However it is hypothesised that the work area was functionally related to the kiln found to the north.

Later land divisions

Three ditches enclosing ridge and furrow agriculture were excavated. Three ditch fills were analysed for plant remains contents (C. 25, C.27, C. 167). Context 27 was the basal fill of ditch C.35 and produced poorly preserved cereal fragments and 1 indeterminate knotgrass seed was found. C. 25 did not contain plant remains while C.167 contained 2 barley (cf. Hordeum vulgare) grains, 1 possible oat grain (cf. Avena sp.), 2 indeterminate knotgrasses (Polygonaceae) and 3 modern blackberry seeds. The charred seeds appear to represent the background noise of domestic refuse normally found on archaeological sites.

Discussion

It was hoped that this assessment would throw light on the function of the kiln in particular; ie. whether it served as a corn drying kiln or as a lime kiln.

Charred cereal remains and weed seeds associated with disturbed arable lands were present in some of the samples taken from deposits associated with the bowl and flue. However, with this kiln the samples were from contexts which represented backfilling from the sides of the bowl and flue walls. However, large quantities of cereal grain and other such remains are unlikely to be found within the bowl as the process of drying cereal grains, when done correctly, does not result in charred grains.

The macroplant evidence to suggest that the kiln was a lime kiln is even less substantial. Only one sample produced samples of lime residues, c.155, one of the flue fills.

The later land boundaries produced plant remains quite typical of backfilled ditches of the late me-dieval period ie. with low counts of poorly preserved charred cereal grains along with weed seeds of disturbed arable ground.

Conclusions

This is a low count assemblage of charred plant remains from a kiln and an adjeacent work surface. The macrofossil evidence suggests that the kiln was more likely to have functioned as a corn drying kiln rather than as a limekiln. The charred plant assemblage contains cereals ie. barley and oats. Most of the remains were so poorly preserved and fragmented that they could only be placed in the indeterminate category. Very low counts of cereal and weed seeds were associated with the industrial work area. As neither corn drying kilns or winnowing areas would have resulted in charred seeds so the wider inter-pretation must depend on other archaeological evidence.

60



Discussion insert

The general absence of plant remains from the samples from both the kiln bowl and the flue suggests that the interpretation of the kiln as a corn drier may not be supported. Corn drying kilns which have suffered a catastrophic fire interrupting the drying process often produce very high quantities of charred plant remains eg. Brehons Chair, Taylorsgrange, Co. Dublin. At Ballynaraha, Co. Tipperary and Kilferagh, Co. Kilkenny, where samples were contained from just outside the kiln and from other features close by, the incidence of charred plant remains was quite high.

Recommendations

No further analysis is required for these samples.

Eachtra Archaeological Projects

HeaderLic No.

61

Tabl

e 1

List

of n

otab

le sa

mpl

e co

nten

ts

Sam

ple

No.

Con

text

No.

Cha

rcoa

lSe

eds

Find

sC

omm

ents

1116

+-

--

1925

+-

--

2127

+++

-In

dete

rmin

ate

knot

gras

s. 2

inde

term

inat

e ce

real

gra

in fr

ag-

men

ts25

29+

--

-24

31-

--

-31

38-

--

-51

45++

--

Frag

s of b

urnt

bon

e38

46+

--

-43

51+

+-

2 in

det.

Gra

sses

, Ave

na-t

ype

4 in

det.

Cer

eal g

rain

frag

s53

61-

--

-59

63-

--

-56

65-

--

-61

69-

--

-63

71+

+-

A fe

w in

det.

Cer

eal g

rain

frag

s69

77-

--

-72

83-

--

-75

85-

+-

Mod

ern

blac

kber

ry se

eds

7989

--

--

8191

++

-3

inde

t. C

erea

l gra

in fr

ags

8695

-+

-M

oder

n bl

ackb

erry

seed

s87

96-

--

-88

98+

+-

4 ba

rley

grai

ns (c

f. H

orde

um sp

.)89

100

++

-H

azel

nut s

hell

frag

men

ts1

poss

whe

at g

rain

(cf.

Triti

cum

sp.)

9010

2-

+-

2 M

oder

n in

det.

Wee

d se

eds

9110

4-

+-

2 po

ss o

at g

rain

frag

s3

inde

t. C

erea

l gra

in fr

ags

9210

6-

--

-93

108

++

-2

inde

t. C

erea

l gra

in fr

ags

9611

2+

+-

1 in

det c

erea

l gra

in fr

ag

Eachtra Archaeological Projects

HeaderLic No.

62

Sam

ple

No.

Con

text

No.

Cha

rcoa

lSe

eds

Find

sC

omm

ents

9811

5+

+-

2 in

det w

eed

seed

frag

s10

412

2+

--

-10

812

7+

+-

2 in

det w

eed

seed

frag

s11

013

0+

+-

1 in

det c

erea

l gra

in fr

ags

114

136

++-

--

116

138

+-

--

118

139

+-

--

122

144

+-

--

124

146

+-

--

125/

126

148

++

-1

inde

t cer

eal g

rain

frag

s.2

inde

t wee

d se

ed fr

ags

1 po

ss o

at g

rain

seed

.12

915

3-

+-

4 in

det c

erea

l gra

ins

2 in

det c

erea

l gra

in fr

ags

132

155

+-

-A

limey

dep

osit.

Som

e la

nd sn

ail f

rags

.13

315

6+

--

-13

816

7+

+-

1 po

ss o

at g

rain

.2

poss

inde

t bar

ley

grai

ns2

inde

t kno

tgra

ss se

eds

3 m

oder

n bl

ackb

erry

seed

s14

317

2++

+-

--

143

173

+++

--

-

63



14.7 Appendix 7: Geological Identification of Stone Artefacts from Bricketstown

By Richard UnittGeological and Geoarchaeological Services, Tig na gClocha, Carrigadrohid, County Cork, Tel: 087

6847622, Email: [email protected]

Introduction

The region to the east of New Ross, County Wexford, is underlain by Lower Palaeozoic, Ordovician rocks (488-443 million years old). These are bordered to the southeast by older Cambrian rocks of the Cahore Group and to the west by younger rocks of Devonian and Carboniferous age. The Ordovician rocks are also intruded by the younger Caledonian granites of the Blackstairs Mountains.The Ordovician rocks consist of the older Ribband Group and the younger Duncannon Group. The Ribband Group were deposited mainly in deep waters and consist of grey to black slaty mudstone (some graphitic) and grey-green slate and sandstones. When the rocks are adjacent to the local granite they are altered to phyllites and mica schists. Volcanic activity is represented by andesitic lavas and tuffs some metamorphosed to amphibolites and chlorite schists.These rocks have been deformed by the Lower Ordovician, Monian Orogeny before the deposition of the Upper Ordovician Duncannon Group. The Duncannon Group represents a chain of volcanic islands that once extended from Waterford through Wales and on into the English Lake District. The rocks consist of limestone and black mud-stone with rhyolitic volcanics (including rhyolites, rhyolitic tuffs andesitic lavas and tuffs, dolerite/gab-bro intrusions) and subordinate sandstone. The volcanics and intrusions tend to be harder to weather than the sediments and as a result isolated hills in these regions tend to be underlain by the volcanic rocks.Volcanic activity was ended by the collision of continental masses during the Caledonian Orogeny. This resulted in the formation of large mountain ranges cored by granitic masses such as the Leinster Granite.Weathering of the newly created mountain ranges during the Devonian period resulted in the forma-tion of numerous coarse deposits of conglomerate, such as the Carrigmaclea Formation, which rests unconformably on the older rocks. The conglomerates often contain fragments derived from the un-derlying strata, although their composition tends to be dominated by clasts of vein quartz.

Stone Artefacts

Bricketstown

00E0476:1:192x Millstone Fragments – Red-brown, clast supported, immature conglomerate. Clasts dominated by vein quartz with minor rhyolite and mudstone.

Provenance: Devonian conglomerate – possibly the Carrigmaclea Formation.

64



Plate 1 – This view of the millstone fragment displays the angular nature of the clasts.

Plate 2 – A section through the millstone fragment displays the dominant component, vein quartz (white clasts).

65



Catalogue description of stone artefacts

By Sara Camplese

Millstone (00E0476:1:18) L. (maximum across) 340mm., Th. 60.7mm. Broken. Part of a millstone. Roughly triangular shape. Link with 00E0476:1:19

Millstone (00E0476:1:19) L. (maximum across) 320mm., Th. 60.7mm. Broken. Part of a millstone. Roughly triangular shape. Link with 00E0476:1:18

66



1

Q

SASA

A 2

45a

and

245b

O

ctob

er 2

006

-R

AF

AN

AL

YSI

S

SASA

A 2

45a:

Dun

geer

Indu

stri

al W

aste

Exa

min

atio

n &

Ana

lysi

s SA

SAA

245

b: B

rick

etst

own

Indu

stri

al W

aste

Exa

min

atio

n &

Ana

lysi

s

Intr

oduc

tion

SASA

A r

ecei

ved

four

sam

ples

of

slag

fro

m E

acht

ra A

rcha

eolo

gica

l Pr

ojec

ts f

or a

naly

tical

ass

essm

ent.

The

sam

ples

wer

e ex

cava

ted

from

Dun

geer

, Co.

W

exfo

rd (L

icen

ce N

o. 0

0E04

75) a

nd B

ricke

tsto

wn,

Co,

Wex

ford

– N

25 R

ealig

nmen

t (R

aths

illag

h-H

arris

tow

n) (L

icen

ce N

o. 0

0E04

76).

Thre

e of

thes

e fo

ur

wer

e ch

osen

for e

xam

inat

ion

(Tab

le 1

).

Tabl

e 1.

Indu

stria

l was

te s

ampl

es.

SASA

A N

o.

Con

text

Pi

t No.

Si

te

Site

Cod

e D

escr

iptio

n A

naly

sis

245.

0192

1

Dun

geer

, Co.

Wex

ford

00

E04

75

Sla

g S

EM

-ED

AX

24

5.02

4 n/

a B

ricke

tsto

wn,

Co.

Wex

ford

00

E04

76

Sla

g S

EM

-ED

AX

24

5.03

3 2

Dun

geer

, Co.

Wex

ford

00

E04

75

Sla

g S

EM

-ED

AX

Dun

geer

(Co.

Wex

ford

) Th

e si

te c

ompr

ised

two

smal

l met

alw

orki

ng p

its, l

ocat

ed c

lose

to e

ach

othe

r (Fi

gure

3 -

left)

. The

re w

as e

vide

nce

for o

xidi

satio

n w

ithin

the

cuts

of b

oth

pits

, su

gges

ting

in s

itu b

urni

ng o

r exp

osur

e to

ext

rem

e he

at. B

oth

wer

e fil

led

with

cha

rcoa

l ric

h de

posit

s w

ith s

tone

and

sla

g in

clus

ions

. The

sim

ilarit

ies

betw

een

the

cuts

and

the

fills

of b

oth

pits

, and

thei

r pro

xim

ity to

eac

h ot

her,

indi

cate

s th

at th

ey w

ere

rela

ted

and

it se

ems

likel

y th

ey s

erve

d a

sing

le fu

nctio

n (E

acht

ra

2006

). N

o da

tes h

ave

been

repo

rted

for t

his s

ite.

•Pi

t C3:

circ

ular

in p

lan.

Dia

met

er =

0.2

7m. D

epth

= 0

.07m

. One

fill

= da

rk b

lack

silty

cla

y w

ith o

ccas

iona

l sm

all s

ub-a

ngul

ar st

ones

, iro

n sl

ag (1

77g)

and

ch

arco

al.

•Pi

t C

4: 0

.12m

S o

f C

3. S

ub-c

ircul

ar in

pla

n. 0

.2m

x 0

.25m

dim

ensi

ons.

Dep

th =

0.0

8m. O

ne f

ill =

dar

k bl

ack

silty

cla

y w

ith m

any

angu

lar

and

sub-

angu

lar p

ebbl

e an

d st

one,

freq

uent

cha

rcoa

l fle

cks a

nd sl

ag (1

78g)

.

14.8

A

ppen

dix

8: I

ndus

tria

l res

idue

s

67



2

Bri

cket

stow

n (C

o. W

exfo

rd)

The

site

com

pris

ed a

kiln

, ditc

hes,

furr

ows,

hear

th, s

take

-hol

es a

nd a

wor

king

sur

face

. C92

was

a la

rge

laye

r of r

e-de

posi

ted

natu

ral,

cont

aini

ng n

umer

ous

potte

ry sh

erds

and

iron

slag

.It

form

ed a

surf

ace

of u

nkno

wn

func

tion

on w

hich

thre

e le

nses

of b

urnt

cla

y w

ere

depo

site

d (n

ot in

situ

). B

elow

the

surf

ace

was

a

char

coal

fill

ed p

it, s

eale

d w

ith a

thic

k fil

l of

oran

gey

red

clay

(he

arth

mat

eria

l). A

cha

rcoa

l spr

ead

lay

abov

e th

e su

rfac

e C

92.

A s

ucce

ssio

n of

bur

ning

(b

oth

in s

itu a

nd e

x si

tu) t

ook

plac

e on

site

, and

wor

king

sur

face

s w

ere

cons

truct

ed. P

otte

ry w

as id

entif

ied

as 1

2-14

th c

entu

ry a

nd C

-14

date

s fr

om th

e si

te

wer

e la

te m

edie

val (

Each

tra 2

006)

.

Sam

ple

Prep

arat

ion

and

Ana

lysi

s

Thre

e fr

agm

ents

of s

lag

wer

e ch

osen

, one

from

Bric

kets

tow

n a

nd tw

o fr

om D

unge

er, f

or S

EM-E

DA

X a

naly

sis;

they

wer

e m

ount

ed in

resi

n an

d gr

ound

and

po

lishe

d w

ith 6

mic

ron

and

3mic

ron

diam

ond

past

es. T

hey

wer

e su

bseq

uent

ly c

arbo

n-co

ated

for

SEM

-ED

AX

ana

lysi

s. Th

e SE

M f

acili

ty u

sed

is a

FEI

Q

uant

a 20

0F E

nviro

nmen

tal S

EM. R

esul

ts a

re n

orm

alis

ed (c

alib

rate

d to

100

%).

Qua

ntita

tive

SEM

-ED

AX

ana

lyse

s ar

e un

derta

ken

first

on

the

entir

e su

rfac

e of

the

polis

hed

bloc

k (a

rea

anal

yses

) at d

iffer

ent l

ocat

ions

with

in th

e sa

mpl

e, a

nd s

ubse

quen

tly o

n ea

ch o

f the

diff

eren

t min

eral

ogic

al p

hase

s ob

serv

ed (s

pot

anal

yses

). It

is im

porta

nt to

repo

rt bo

th a

rea

and

spot

ana

lyse

s, si

nce

it is

the

indi

vidu

al p

hase

s th

at c

an s

hed

light

into

the

cond

ition

s ap

plic

able

with

in th

e fu

rnac

e, th

e or

e us

ed, t

he ra

tes o

f coo

ling

of th

e sl

ag. A

ll SE

M im

ages

repr

oduc

ed h

ere

are

BS

(bac

ksca

ttere

d el

ectro

n) im

ages

to re

flect

sam

ple

com

posi

tion.

A

sec

ond

type

of i

mag

e re

ferr

ed to

as

‘Mix

ed,’

is a

com

pute

r ge

nera

ted

imag

e fo

rmed

by

over

layi

ng th

e se

cond

ary

emis

sion

imag

e w

ith th

e ba

cksc

atte

red

one.

It is

incl

uded

her

e on

ly a

s a m

eans

of e

nhan

cing

the

seco

ndar

y em

issi

on im

age.

68



3

Res

ults

Tabl

e 2.

Ana

lyse

s. S

EM

-ED

AX

Dat

a fo

r sa

mpl

es S

ASA

A 2

45.0

1, .0

2 an

d .0

3. P

leas

e no

te th

at ir

on c

an o

ccur

in b

oth

the

Fe2+

and

the

Fe3+

sta

te. I

t is

repo

rted

here

as

Fe3+

and

repr

esen

ts to

tal i

ron

pres

ent.

Sam

ple

245.

01, C

4 Pi

t 1 D

unge

er

Sam

ple

Des

crip

tion

Na2

O

MgO

A

l2O

3 Si

O2

P2O

5 SO

3 C

l2O

K

2O

CaO

Ti

O2

MnO

Fe

2O3

Tota

l

245.

01ar

ea a

naly

sis

(mea

n)

0.16

0.

34

8.84

15

.21

0.81

0.

15

nd

0.30

0.

38

nd

5.51

68

.56

100

245.

01w

ustit

e 0.

23

0.24

0.

87

2.16

0.

79

0.32

nd

0.

15

nd

nd

2.73

92

.52

100

245.

01fa

yalit

e 0.

19

0.49

1.

24

27.7

0 0.

47

0.00

nd

0.

09

nd

nd

7.81

62

.01

100

245.

01he

rcyn

ite

0.16

0.

84

50.1

2 0.

67

0.20

0.

00

nd

0.16

nd

nd

2.

80

45.0

5 10

0

245.

01In

ters

titia

l gla

ss

0.11

0.

22

25.6

0 50

.45

0.23

0.

00

nd

18.4

6 nd

nd

0.

39

4.55

10

0

Sam

ple

245.

02 fr

om C

92 B

ricke

tsto

wn

Sam

ple

Des

crip

tion

Na2

O

MgO

A

l2O

3 Si

O2

P2O

5 SO

3 C

l2O

K

2O

CaO

Ti

O2

MnO

Fe

2O3

Tota

l

245.

02ar

ea a

naly

sis

(mea

n)

0.25

0.

64

5.39

23

.22

0.33

0.

43

nd

0.95

0.

77

nd

0.34

67

.70

100

245.

02fa

yalit

e 0.

14

1.17

0.

52

27.2

2 0.

11

0.23

nd

0.

15

0.36

nd

0.

42

69.6

8 10

0

245.

02in

ters

titia

l gla

ss, p

hase

1, N

a,C

a, K

-ric

h al

umin

o-si

licat

e 3.

16

0.00

19

.73

42.1

1 0.

66

0.25

nd

5.

83

7.78

nd

0.

10

20.3

8 10

0

245.

02In

ters

titia

l gla

ss, p

hase

2 K

-ric

h al

umin

o-si

licat

e 0.

86

0.07

25

.05

53.0

6 0.

19

0.16

0.

10

19.1

1 0.

08

nd

0.05

1.

27

100

245.

02iro

n ox

ide

‘ore

’ 0.

10

0.39

6.

61

9.47

0.

00

0.47

0.

30

0.19

0.

17

nd

0.57

81

.72

100

Sam

ple

245.

03 fr

om C

3, D

unge

erSa

mpl

e D

escr

iptio

n N

a2O

M

gO

Al2

O3

SiO

2 P2

O5

SO3

Cl2

O

K2O

C

aO

TiO

2 M

nO

Fe2O

3 To

tal

245.

03ar

ea a

naly

sis

0.56

0.

25

10.3

5 25

.40

0.54

0.

23

0.06

1.

29

0.45

0.

50

5.46

54

.92

100

245.

03fa

yalit

e

0.32

0.

61

0.31

26

.75

0.29

0.

27

0.15

0.

19

0.35

nd

8.

06

62.6

9 10

0

245.

03fin

e fa

yalit

e gr

owin

g w

ithin

gla

ss; i

t als

o ha

s M

n 0.

16

0.68

0.

95

25.9

3 0.

39

0.17

0.

11

0.11

0.

23

0.40

8.

28

62.6

0 10

0

245.

03he

rcyn

ite

0.00

0.

26

41.7

8 1.

70

0.19

0.

48

0.25

0.

22

0.20

1.

67

3.04

50

.20

100

245.

03In

ters

titia

l gla

ss, a

K-r

ich

alum

inos

ilica

te

3.05

0.

00

22.8

3 40

.26

3.02

0.

31

0.00

14

.98

1.42

0.

76

0.89

12

.47

100

245.

03‘o

re’ a

t the

beg

inni

ng o

f red

uctio

n to

iron

oxi

de a

nd fa

yalit

e 0.

30

0.18

6.

09

15.6

1 2.

00

1.21

0.

06

0.27

0.

16

0.14

1.

00

72.9

8 10

0

69



4

Figu

re 1

. SE

M-E

DA

X im

ages

of s

ampl

es 2

45.0

1 an

d 24

5.03

(Dun

geer

).

SASA

A 2

45.0

1.3:

SEM

-BS

imag

e sh

owin

g fo

ur p

hase

s, m

ajor

ph

ase

is fa

yalit

e, m

inor

pha

ses

incl

ude

wus

tite,

her

cyni

te a

nd

inte

rstit

ial g

lass

.

SASA

A 2

45.0

1.4:

SEM

-BS

imag

e sh

owin

g th

e fo

ur p

hase

s at

hi

gher

mag

nific

atio

n th

an th

e ph

otog

raph

to th

e le

ft; h

ercy

nite

ap

pear

s to

ex-

solv

e ou

t of f

ayal

ite, i

n an

atte

mpt

to a

ccom

mod

ate

the

exce

ss a

lum

ina

pres

ent i

n th

e or

e.

SASA

A 2

45.0

3.3:

SEM

-BS

imag

e sh

owin

g ba

nds

of s

olid

ifica

tion

on

the

surf

ace

of th

e sl

ag fr

agm

ent.

SASA

A 2

45.0

3.4:

SEM

-BS

imag

e sh

owin

g a

clos

e-up

of t

he tw

o zo

nes

of s

olid

ifica

tion;

the

inte

rior h

as b

een

subj

ecte

d to

fast

co

olin

g, w

hile

the

ext

erio

r sho

ws

wel

l gro

wn

faya

lite

with

he

rcyn

ite g

row

ing

in b

etw

een.

SASA

A 2

45.0

3.2:

SEM

-BS

imag

e sh

owin

g w

ell f

orm

ed n

eedl

es o

f fa

yalit

e w

ith in

ters

titia

l gla

ss a

nd a

ngul

ar h

ercy

nite

. SA

SAA

245

.03.

1: S

EM-B

S im

age

show

ing

a cl

ose

up o

f ang

ular

he

rcyn

ite a

mid

st th

e fa

yalit

e an

d th

e in

ters

titia

l gla

ss (b

lack

). Th

e pi

tting

on

the

surf

ace

is th

e re

sult

of w

eath

erin

g du

ring

buria

l.

70



5

Figu

re 2

. SE

M-E

DA

X im

ages

of s

ampl

es 2

45.0

2 (B

ricke

tsto

wn)

.

SASA

A 2

45.0

2.4:

SEM

-BS

imag

e sh

owin

g pa

rtia

lly re

duce

d or

e am

idst

the

faya

lite

and

inte

rstit

ial g

lass

; the

ana

lysi

s sh

owed

iron

si

lica

and

alum

ina

with

som

e ph

osph

orus

.

SASA

A 2

45.0

2.5:

SEM

-BS

imag

e sh

owin

g an

othe

r are

a hi

ghlig

htin

g th

e re

duct

ion

proc

ess;

it s

houl

d be

em

phas

ised

that

so

me

of th

e ar

eas

whi

ch a

ppea

r ‘re

duce

d’ m

ight

be

the

resu

lt of

co

mbi

ned

redu

ctio

n an

d w

eath

erin

g.

SASA

A 2

45.0

2.2:

SEM

-BS

imag

e sh

owin

g de

ndrit

es o

f wus

tite

in th

e co

urse

of f

orm

atio

n. A

naly

sis

of in

divi

dual

den

drite

s sh

ow a

lum

ina

and

silic

a as

wel

l as

iron

refle

ctin

g th

e or

igin

al o

re.

71



6

Dis

cuss

ion

On

slag

min

eral

ogy:

Dun

geer

Th

e tw

o sa

mpl

es o

f sl

ag a

naly

sed

(SA

SAA

245

.01

and

SASA

A 2

45.0

3) a

re s

imila

r in

typ

olog

y (a

mor

phou

s, bl

ack,

den

se a

nd p

orou

s) b

ut n

ot i

n

min

eral

ogy.

With

ref

eren

ce to

SA

SAA

245

.03,

fou

r ph

ases

are

evi

dent

: the

pre

dom

inan

t pha

se is

fay

alite

, an

iron

silic

ate,

(2F

eO.S

iO2)

; min

or p

hase

s ar

e he

rcyn

ite, (

Al 2O

3.FeO

), an

alu

min

ium

iron

oxi

de, w

ustit

e, a

n iro

n ox

ide

(FeO

) and

inte

rstit

ial g

lass

. Som

e tra

ces

of m

etal

lic ir

on a

re a

lso

evid

ent.

The

co-

exis

tenc

e of

the

four

pha

ses

poin

ts to

the

slag

s be

ing

of th

e sm

eltin

g ty

pe; h

ercy

nite

pro

babl

y de

rives

eith

er fr

om th

e or

e or

the

linin

g of

the

furn

ace,

or a

co

mbi

natio

n of

bot

h. T

he s

lags

coo

led

slow

ly w

ithin

the

furn

ace,

(th

ey w

ere

not t

appe

d), a

s su

gges

ted

by th

e w

ell-f

orm

ed f

ayal

ite; t

hey

may

hav

e be

en

rem

oved

in th

e pr

oces

s of b

loom

ext

ract

ion

and

forg

ing

and

perh

aps –

giv

en th

e ab

senc

e of

slag

scat

ter o

r ind

eed

any

othe

r fea

ture

in th

e im

med

iate

vic

inity

- th

ey w

ere

thro

wn

back

in it

afte

r the

blo

om w

as re

mov

ed.

In r

efer

ence

to

SASA

A 2

45.0

1, f

our

phas

es a

re e

vide

nt:

the

pred

omin

ant

phas

e is

fay

alite

, an

iro

n si

licat

e, (

2FeO

.SiO

2);

min

or p

hase

s ar

e he

rcyn

ite,

(Al 2O

3.FeO

), an

alu

min

ium

iron

oxi

de; w

ustit

e, a

n iro

n ox

ide

(FeO

) and

inte

rstit

ial g

lass

. Som

e tra

ces

of m

etal

lic ir

on a

re a

lso

evid

ent.

The

co-e

xist

ence

of

the

four

pha

ses p

oint

s to

the

slag

bei

ng o

f the

smel

ting

type

as d

escr

ibed

in th

e ot

her D

unge

er (S

ASA

A 2

45.0

3) e

xam

ple

abov

e.

The

ore

used

was

alm

ost c

erta

inly

of t

he b

og o

re v

arie

ty, w

here

iron

exi

sts

as a

non

-cry

stal

line

oxy-

hydr

oxid

e (H

all a

nd P

hoto

s-Jo

nes

1998

). M

anga

nese

w

ould

hav

e be

en a

dded

in th

e fo

rm o

f m

anga

nese

oxi

de n

odul

es, a

s flu

x to

mak

e th

e sl

ag f

ree

runn

ing.

Man

gane

se o

xide

s no

dule

s ha

ve b

een

foun

d in

as

soci

atio

n w

ith m

etal

wor

king

site

s (P

hoto

s-Jo

nes

2006

). B

og ir

on o

re is

elu

sive

(H

all a

nd P

hoto

s-Jo

nes

1998

), pr

imar

ily o

n ac

coun

t of t

he fa

ct th

at it

is

rege

nera

tive;

in o

ther

wor

ds it

rep

rodu

ces

itsel

f (p

roba

bly

‘qui

etly

’ ev

en to

day)

at d

iffer

ent l

ocat

ions

, ove

r a

num

ber

of y

ears

. We

are

curr

ently

ana

lysi

ng

som

e of

thes

e “m

oder

n” so

urce

s at a

site

pre

sent

ly u

nder

inve

stig

atio

n.

The

sim

ilarit

ies

in m

iner

alog

y be

twee

n th

e tw

o fr

agm

ents

of s

lag

from

Dun

geer

sug

gest

sm

eltin

g sl

ags.

They

hav

e be

en re

cove

red

from

two

diff

eren

t pits

; it

does

not

, how

ever

, nec

essa

rily

follo

w th

at b

oth

pits

wer

e sm

eltin

g pi

ts (s

ee se

ctio

n be

low

).

On

furn

ace

desc

ript

ion:

Dun

geer

Pits

C3

and

C4

wer

e in

deed

bow

l fur

nace

s us

ed in

the

mak

ing

of ir

on. T

here

is n

o ev

iden

ce o

f co

pper

mel

ting

or s

mel

ting

with

in th

e sa

mpl

es e

xam

ined

. Ea

ch fu

rnac

e co

ntai

ns o

nly

a si

ngle

fill.

The

pre

senc

e of

sla

g in

bot

h fu

rnac

es a

nd th

e ob

serv

ed h

eatin

g of

the

pit w

alls

indi

cate

that

bot

h pi

ts w

ere

used

for

met

alw

orki

ng. T

wo-

bow

l (s

ee F

igur

e 3,

mid

dle)

or

even

thr

ee-b

owl

furn

ace

clus

ters

are

beg

inni

ng t

o be

inc

reas

ingl

y ev

iden

t in

Ire

land

lik

e th

e on

e at

D

errin

salla

gh 4

, Co

Laoi

s, ex

cava

ted

by A

CS

Ltd

earli

er th

is y

ear,

(A-M

Len

non,

per

s co

mm

.). M

agne

tic s

usce

ptib

ility

mea

sure

men

ts o

f one

suc

h tw

o-pi

t bo

wl f

urna

ce w

ithin

this

site

sho

wed

that

the

tem

pera

ture

s re

ache

d w

ithin

wer

e di

ffer

ent (

Wils

on 2

006)

; it f

ollo

ws

that

the

func

tion

of th

e tw

o bo

wls

was

di

ffer

ent.

Thi

s m

ay o

r may

hav

e no

t bee

n th

e ca

se a

t Dun

geer

. We

sugg

est t

hat i

t is

diff

icul

t to

conc

lude

whe

ther

two

bow

ls s

ituat

ed n

ext t

o ea

ch o

ther

may

ha

ve b

een

part

of a

clu

ster

, eac

h de

dica

ted

to a

spec

ific

func

tion

or w

heth

er th

ey re

pres

ent t

wo

diff

eren

t tria

ls w

ithou

t the

use

of a

ncill

ary

scie

ntifi

c te

stin

g.

As

bow

l fur

nace

s, th

e D

unge

er o

nes

surv

ive

to a

n ex

cept

iona

lly s

hallo

w d

epth

(7-

8cm

). N

orm

ally

bow

l fur

nace

s w

ould

be

expe

cted

to

have

a d

epth

of

c.30

cm b

elow

the

area

whe

re th

e tu

yere

wou

ld h

ave

been

pos

ition

ed. F

or e

xam

ple,

the

furn

ace

at A

R29

(Fi

gure

3 r

ight

) su

rviv

ed to

a d

epth

that

ref

lect

s cl

osel

y th

e or

igin

al o

ne (t

he u

pper

wid

th o

f the

furn

ace

was

c.5

0cm

). Th

e sm

all a

mou

nt o

f sla

g an

d ch

arco

al re

cove

red

from

the

Dun

geer

furn

aces

sug

gest

s

72



7

dem

oliti

on/tr

unca

tion

eith

er b

y th

e sm

ith h

imse

lf or

as

part

of a

late

r ev

ent.

Whi

le th

ere

wer

e no

arc

haeo

logi

cal i

ndic

atio

ns o

f ab

ove

grou

nd s

truct

ures

ar

ound

thes

e pi

ts, i

t is p

ossi

ble

that

a lo

w c

lay

wal

l (ra

ther

than

a d

ome)

was

use

d to

con

tain

the

char

coal

and

to ‘s

ecur

e’ th

e po

sitio

ning

of t

he tu

yere

.

On

slag

min

eral

ogy:

Bri

cket

stow

n W

ith r

efer

ence

to S

ASA

A 2

45.0

2 tw

o m

ain

phas

es a

re o

bvio

us, f

ayal

ite a

nd in

ters

titia

l gla

ss; w

ustit

e is

sca

rce

and

herc

ynite

is a

bsen

t. Th

e ph

ases

that

ap

pear

as

wus

tite

show

n in

the

SEM

imag

es o

f Fig

ure

2, w

e su

gges

t are

wus

tite

‘in th

e m

akin

g’ i.

e. in

the

proc

ess

of fo

rmat

ion.

We

had

orig

inal

ly a

ssum

ed

that

this

was

wus

tite

whi

ch h

ad u

nder

gone

sev

ere

wea

ther

ing;

how

ever

clo

ser S

EM-E

DA

X a

naly

sis

show

ed th

at th

e ‘w

ustit

e in

the

mak

ing’

are

as c

onta

in a

co

nsid

erab

le a

mou

nt o

f sili

ca a

nd a

lum

ina

whi

ch m

ust r

efle

ct th

e or

igin

al o

re. I

t is

sugg

este

d th

at th

is s

lag

form

ed a

s pa

rt of

the

roas

ting

- mor

e ac

cura

tely

dr

ying

/con

solid

atin

g - o

f the

alu

min

a-ric

h fe

rrug

inou

s m

ater

ials

that

form

ed th

e ra

w m

ater

ial f

or th

is s

mel

t. Th

e or

e w

ould

hav

e co

ntai

ned

amor

phou

s iro

n ox

ide,

goe

thite

.

The

slag

is a

lso

devo

id o

f m

anga

nese

. Giv

en th

at o

nly

one

sam

ple

was

ava

ilabl

e fo

r ex

amin

atio

n fr

om th

e ab

ove

site

, it i

s no

t pos

sibl

e to

asc

erta

in h

ow

met

alw

orki

ng p

ract

ices

at B

ricke

tow

n w

ould

hav

e di

ffer

ed fr

om th

ose

at D

unge

er. T

here

is n

o re

porte

d as

soci

ated

furn

ace

feat

ure

with

this

sam

ple

(Eac

htra

20

06).

Figu

re 3

. Lef

t: P

its C

3 an

d C

4 at

Dun

geer

, Co.

Wex

ford

(Eac

htra

200

6). C

ompa

re w

ith (c

entre

) dou

ble

furn

ace

(C5)

at D

errin

salla

gh 4

, Co.

Lao

is (W

ilson

200

6) a

nd (r

ight

) ty

pica

l fur

nace

fills

in F

eatu

re 5

, AR

29,

Tra

ntst

own

(N8

Gla

nmire

-Wat

ergr

assh

ill R

oad

Sch

eme)

(She

rlock

200

1).

73



8

Futu

re w

ork

Alth

ough

sla

g an

alys

is fr

om w

ithin

a fu

rnac

e ca

n in

prin

cipl

e id

entif

y th

e na

ture

of t

he a

ctiv

ities

with

in, i

t mer

ely

‘scr

atch

es’ t

he p

rove

rbia

l ‘su

rfac

e’; s

lag

anal

ysis

can

onl

y ta

ke th

e ar

chae

olog

ical

evi

denc

e so

far –

ana

lysi

s of

the

asso

ciat

ed s

oils

, be

they

the

silts

/cla

ys, c

an s

hed

light

into

the

raw

mat

eria

ls u

sed.

In

Dun

geer

, bot

h pi

ts c

onta

ined

‘dar

k bl

ack

silty

cla

y w

ith m

any

angu

lar

and

sub-

angu

lar

pebb

le a

nd s

tone

s’.A

re th

ese

silty

cla

ys m

erel

y po

st d

epos

ition

al

or d

o th

ey c

onta

in in

form

atio

n th

at m

ight

pro

ve v

ital t

o th

e in

terp

reta

tion

of th

e w

orki

ngs w

ithin

the

furn

ace

and

by e

xten

sion

pra

ctic

es lo

st?

It is

unf

ortu

nate

th

at m

etal

lurg

ical

was

te a

naly

sis

tradi

tiona

lly fo

cuse

s on

sla

g al

one.

It is

sug

gest

ed th

at s

oil m

icro

mor

phol

ogy

take

s pl

ace

(sam

plin

g us

ing

a K

ubie

na ti

n),

next

tim

e a

sim

ilar f

eatu

re is

exc

avat

ed. H

avin

g sa

id th

at, i

t is

ackn

owle

dged

that

the

shal

low

ness

of t

he p

its C

3 an

d C

4 at

Dun

geer

poi

nts

to c

onsi

dera

ble

dist

urba

nce,

rend

erin

g th

e re

sults

of a

ny d

etai

led

inve

stig

atio

n ra

ther

unr

elia

ble.

Plea

se n

ote:

pho

togr

aphs

and

dra

win

gs o

rigi

natin

g fr

om s

ourc

es o

ther

tha

n SA

SAA

are

not

to

be r

epro

duce

d in

any

for

m w

ithou

t th

e w

ritte

n

perm

issi

on o

f SA

SAA

.

E. P

hoto

s-Jo

nes

SASA

AG

lasg

ow, O

ctob

er 2

006

74



9

Ack

now

ledg

emen

ts

SASA

A w

ould

like

to a

ckno

wle

dge

the

assi

stan

ce o

f the

follo

win

g pe

ople

in p

repa

ratio

n of

this

repo

rt:

•G

ert P

eter

sen

(SA

SAA

). •

Pete

r Chu

ng (D

ept o

f Ear

th S

cien

ces,

Uni

vers

ity o

f Gla

sgow

).

Ref

eren

ces

Each

tra A

rcha

eolo

gica

l Pro

ject

s. 20

06. B

ackg

roun

d in

form

atio

n on

Dun

geer

and

Bri

cket

stow

n, C

o. W

exfo

rd. E

acht

ra, u

npub

lishe

d in

form

atio

n.

Sher

lock

R. 2

001.

N8

Gla

nmir

e –

Wat

ergr

assh

ill R

oad

Sche

me:

Arc

haeo

logi

cal E

xcav

atio

n at

Kill

ydon

ogho

e, B

allin

vinn

y N

orth

& T

rant

stow

n, C

o C

ork,

Si

te N

umbe

rs A

R 3,

AR

4, A

R 5,

AR

6, A

R 10

, AR

11, A

R 12

, AR

13, A

R 26

& A

R 29

, She

ila L

ane

& A

ssoc

iate

s C

onsu

ltant

Arc

haeo

logi

sts’

Inte

rim R

epor

t: D

ecem

ber 2

001,

Lic

ence

Num

ber 0

1E05

01.

Phot

os-J

ones

E. 2

006.

Step

asid

e, K

ilgob

bin:

Indu

stri

al W

aste

Exa

min

atio

n &

Ana

lysi

s. SA

SAA

Repo

rt 2

27.

Wils

on L

. 200

6. D

erri

nsal

lagh

4, C

o. L

aois

, Eir

e (S

ite L

icen

ce 0

5E21

80):

In-S

itu M

agne

tic S

usce

ptib

ility

Dat

a C

olle

ctio

n: A

Pre

limin

ary

Repo

rt.S

ASAA

Re

port

204

.1.

7 B

elg

rave T

err

ace

| G

lasg

ow

| G

12

8JD

| S

cotl

an

d |

UK

+4

4(0

)14

1 3

37

26

23

| e

nq

uir

ies@

sasa

a.c

o.u

k |

ww

w.s

asa

a.c

o.u

k

75



14.9 Appendix 9: Charcoal assessment Bricketstown, Co. Wexford (00E0476)

Charcoal assessed by Mary Dillon

Context Sample Charcoal69 61 Diffuse-porous twig83 72 Diffuse-porous twig

Archaeological Excavation Report E0476 - Bricketstown, Co. Wexford, Ireland - EAP Journal

Education

Transcript of Archaeological Excavation Report E0476 - Bricketstown, Co. Wexford, Ireland - EAP Journal