Ring-ditch

The National Monuments Service's description

Located at the edge of a ridge in a low-lying area with a canalised SSW-NNE stream c. 25m to the W and lower ground to the S. Archaeological centre-line testing (04E1052) by G. McLoughlin (2005) at Testing Area 1 of Contract 5 of the M3 motorway (excavations.ie 2004:1194) identified archaeological features that were partially investigated (E003164) within the road-take by S. Reilly in interrupted sessions between September 2006 and April 2009 as Calliaghstown 1 (Reilly et al. 2008) when a large enclosure was recorded at the W end while a ring-ditch and a rectangular enclosure were revealed at the E end of the excavation.

In Area A, E of a SSW-NNE field bank and stream, a circular area (int. diam. c. 16m) was at the N edge of the road-take and half of it survives outside it. The enclosure is defined by a flat-bottomed fosse (Wth 2.4m; D 0.9m), and there may have been an entrance at S. The ditch was re-cut as shallower and wider (max. Wth 2.86m; max. D 0.74m) in Phase 2, and recut again at the W edge in Phase 3. The interior of the enclosure is marked by NE-SW furrows, and no original internal features survive. It is later than the rectangular enclosure that is just to the S and cuts its fosse. (Reilly et al. 2008, 2-3)

See the attached plans from Reilly et al. (2008, figs 7, 8, 9)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 4 March 2022

References

Reilly, S., Kinsella, J. and V. Ginn 2008 M3 Clonee – North of Kells, Contract 5, Kells to North of Kells. Final Report on the Archaeological Excavation of Calliaghstown 1, Co. Meath. Licence: E003164. Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services

McLoughlin, G. 2005 M3 Clonee-North of Kells; Contract 5, Kells to North of Kells. Report on Archaeological Assessment at Testing Area 1 in Calliaghstown, County Meath. Licence: 04E1052. Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy