Ritual site - pond

The National Monuments Service's description

On a gentle SW-facing slope in pasture. There are good views from SW-NW, elsewhere the view is impeded by rising ground. There is a standing stone (KK031-112----) c. 120m to the NW and another (KK031-113----) c. 310m to the E. A ring-barrow (KK035-007----) lies c. 1.1km to the SE. There are also five ringforts (KK035-002----; KK035-003----; KK035-004----; KK035-005----; KK035-006----) in the vicinity, at a distance of between 500-950m to the SE-ESE.

Indicated on the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map as a curvilinear enclosure (overall diam. c. 40m N-S; c. 45m E-W), the S bank is depicted by hachures. Within the S portion of the enclosure a roughly circular pond (diam. c. 16m) is depicted, being fed from a stream which flows through the bank of the enclosure from the SE and exits, again through the bank of the enclosure, to the SW. The stream is fed from a number of springs which are shown on the 1st ed. map, one c. 245m to the SE and two c. 500m to the SE. A trackway is indicated running along the outside of the enclosure from W-N. On the 1901 revision of the OS 6-inch map the enclosure is no longer depicted nor is the pond though the stream shown, the trackway is now a road and a field boundary is shown running NW-SE across the NE quadrant of the enclosure.

The enclosure (int. diam. c. 30m) is defined by a high steep bank (int. H 2.4m; ext. H 3.08m; Wth at crest 2.2m; overall Wth 10m) which has been levelled in places. From the inner base of the bank the ground continues to slope gradually downward for c. 5m (H 0.82m), before coming to the edge of a scarp (H 1.03m) which forms the edge of the pond. The bank is very well preserved in the NE-E sector and is also visible in the W-NW sector, though the latter is heavily overgrown with scrub, brambles and trees. There are trees growing along the bank in the NE-E sector also but the undergrown is not overgrown. The S sector of the enclosure, shown as the hachured section on the 1st ed. map, has been levelled, probably between 1839 and 1901. There is a gateway on the roadside where portion of the N bank would have been and according to the landowner there was a causeway from the gateway across the shallow pond to the fields to the SE-S-SW. A portion of the S sector of the pond, where the bank has been levelled and extending into the interior, is an area of made ground which has a stone-faced revetment. The pond is quite shallow and has a tendency to get silted up.

When the enclosure was intact the pond would have been surrounded by a high steep-sided bank which sloped continuously down to the pond and fell steeply to the exterior. The morphology of this pond, with its substantial enclosing element, suggests that it has a ritual significance. 

A similar roughly circular ritual pond (TS074-011----) has been identified in Ardane, Co. Tipperary, it consists of a natural spring pool (diam. c. 30m) enclosed from NW-N-S by an earthen bank (Wth at crest 2.9-3.3m; Wth at base 6-7.2m; int. H 1.45-1.75m; ext. H 0.73-0.8m at SE and NW respectively). This pond is likely to be prehistoric in date but was subsequently ‘Christianised’, and is still venerated as St Berrihert’s Well.

Another ritual or votive circular pond, known as ‘The King’s Stables’ in Tray townland, Co. Armagh, has been archaeologically excavated. It consists of a much silted-up water-filled depression (diam. 25m) enclosed by a penannular bank (Wth 10m; ext. H 1.6m) (Neill 2009, 203-04). When partially excavated by Chris Lynn in 1975 it was found to be a steep-sided artificial basin, dug to a depth of 3-4m below the natural ground level, the upcast forming the bank (ibid. 203). Finds from the pond include 18 fragments of clay moulds for leaf-shaped bronze swords of Late Bronze Age type, two bone objects and two sherds of Late Bronze Age pottery, as well as a human skull and animal bones, mainly of red deer and dog (ibid. 204). Radiocarbon dates from below the bank and from the base of the organic mud in the pond ranged from 1005 ± B.C. to 635 ± 80 B.C., suggesting a Late Bronze Age date (ibid.). The King’s Stable is located 180m ENE of a Late Bronze Age hillfort known as Haughey’s Fort and 1km WNW of a ritually significant multi-period large enclosure known as Navan Fort.

The ritual pond in Ballygowan (Reade) townland is also associated with a number of late prehistoric monuments, as well as a late Bronze Age hoard, currently housed in the National Museum of Ireland, which consists of four leaf-shaped spearheads, part of a tanged sickle and 3 rings, found c. 600m to the NE of the pond in 1938 (Eogan 1983, 95-6, fig. 50; locational information pers. comm. John Hickey, 1 May 2024). 

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

References

Eogan, G. 1983 Hoards of the Irish later Bronze Age. University College Dublin. Dublin.

Lynn, C. 1977 Trial excavations at the King’s Stables, Tray townland, County Armagh. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 40, 42-62.

Neill, K. 2009 An archaeological survey of County Armagh. Northern Ireland. The Stationery Office. Northern Ireland Environment Agency.