Field system

The National Monuments Service's description

Pre-development investigations in 2001 identified part of a field system adjacent to Bremore castle (DU002-002002-). Two parallel ditches extending E-W (L 150m) and 50m apart formed the borders. Cultivation seems to have taken place in the enclosed plot and the field system may have extended across the present N1 road, joining to a lane known locally as Hamlet Lane which runs along the same E-W axis as the southern ditch (O'Carroll 2003, 79-80). Analysis of charred remains from the furrows yielded evidence for cereal grains, principally wheat, barley , oats and legumes. This suggests a pattern of intensive cultivation and crop rotation. Prior to the setting out of the field, the area was already used for cultivation. A shallow, flat-bottomed broad feature which produced Leinster Cooking Ware and 13th to 14th century local wares was interpreted as the remains of a manure heap. At a later stage in the 16th to early 17th century these fields may have been transformed into a parkland or orchard (O'Carroll 2009, 75-87).

Compiled by: Geraldine Stout

Date of upload: 26 August 2011

References

O'Carroll, F. 2009, Bremore Co. Dublin, the field by the castle. In Baker, C. (ed.) Axes, Warriors & Windmills: Recent archaeological investigations in north Fingal.

O'Carroll, F. 2003a 324, Bremore, Balbriggan. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2001: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 79-80. Bray. Wordwell.