Enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on the summit of a N-S ridge. When first described in 1969 (SMR file) the earthwork presented as a large ring-barrow consisting of a circular grass-covered area (diam. 38.5m NW-SE) defined by a fosse (Wth of top 6.5m-7.5m; Wth of base 2-2.5m; int. D 0.6-0.7m; ext. D 0.8-0.9m) and an outer earthen bank (Wth of base 3-5.8m; ext. H 0.5m at NW to 1.2m at SE).
The earthwork was damaged in 1988 and a subsequent excavation (E000510) in the years 1989-1993 revealed a complex of features including a possible Neolithic house, two hut-sites, two enclosures, two timber circles and a ritual burial. In the 1993 season an enclosure, dated by radiocarbon to c. 3000 BC, was partially excavated. It consisted of a ditch (Wth c. 2.4-3m; D c. 0.8m; exposed L 23m), and a pit (dims 1.2m x 0.7m; D 0.15m) is associated with it. The ditch is the earliest feature uncovered and is partly overlain by a small subrectangular wooden structure or house (ME011-040003-). (Newman 1993c, 6-7; 1993d, 21)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 10 April, 2019

References

Newman, C. 1993c Raffin Fort, Co. Meath Interim Report. Unpublished report, Author

Newman, C. 1993d Sleeping in Elysium. Archaeology Ireland, 7, 3, 20-24.