Midden

The National Monuments Service's description

Described in 2001 as 'The site lies immediately to the west of Inch Castle (DG046-004-) but could not be inspected as the field is now in grass and no sections were available. The midden was noted by McNaught and Gallagher during ploughing and it would appear to extend 15-20 metres from the SE corner of the field i.e. just below the rock outcrop on which Inch Castle is built. This is probably one of two sites in the vicinity of Inch Castle referred to by Harte in 1867. The monument would appear to lie on the edge of a steep slope running down to the shore. The slope is heavily overgrown with brambles etc. the midden would appear to lie at an altitude in excess of 5 metres above high tide mark. During ploughing, the area of the field adjacent to the midden produced a range of artefacts including a possible butt-trimmed form and several large elongated blades typical of the Mesolithic' (Woodman & Milner 2001, 19-20; Milner & Woodman 2007, 104-5, No. 6).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 17 August 2010

References

Milner, N. and Woodman, P. 2007 Deconstructing the myths of Irish shell middens. In N. Milner, O.E. Craig and G. Bailey (eds) Shell middens in Atlantic Europe. Oxford. Oxbow.