Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Burnt mound
Cookstown Great, County Meath, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Cookstown Great
- County
- Meath
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Coordinates
- 53.70277, -6.84573
- SMR number
- ME017-091----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1790 map "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
Historical maps covering this location
- 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1799 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
- 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
Situated on a slight W-facing slope in a gently undulating landscape. Archaeological testing (04E0918) by D. Nelis (2005) at Testing Area 9 of Contract 4 of the M3 motorway identified burnt mound material (excavations.ie 2004:1213) that was excavated (E003137) by P. Lynch (2010) as Cookstown Great 1 during September to November 2006 in an area of 948 square metres (excavations.ie 2007:1291). A spread of charcoal-rich soil with heat-affected stones (dims 9m NW-SE; 3.2m NE-SW; T 0.2m) that contained fragments of at least four carinated Neolithic pottery vessels with everted rims is associated with four pits cut in the subsoil and a hearth, but nothing like a trough was identified. A sample of hazel charcoal from the burnt spread yielded a C14 date of 4227-3978 cal. BC (UBA 12113), confirming the pottery evidence of an Early Neolithic date. The burnt mound filled a teardrop-shaped cut (dims 6m NW-SE; 3m NE-SW; D 0.2m) and extended beyond it at NW. Two shallow pits (dims 1m x c. 0.35m; D 0.1m: dims 0.95m x 0.4m; D 0.05m) and a posthole were in the upper surface of the spread. Four small pits (dims 0.83m x 0.8m; D 0.11m to 2.21m x 1.53m; D 0.08m) filled with clayey silts and with oak charcoal present were within 10m of the burnt spread. A sample of charred bedstraw seeds from one of the pits returned a C14 date of 768-521 cal. BC (UBA 11134) in the Late Bronze Age, suggesting that these features are unconnected with the burnt mound. A large area of burning (dims 4.2m x 2.4m; D 0.3m) that had an oxidized base and red silt and stones in the fill was 5.75m S of the burnt mound and is interpreted as a hearth. Some furrows ran through the area and one of them supplied a further fragment of a carinated bowl. (Lynch 2010, 5-8)
See the attached plan from Lynch (2010, fig. 5)
Compiled by: Michael Moore
Date of upload: 23 March 2022
References
Lynch, P. 2010 M3 Clonee – North of Kells, Contract 4, Navan to Kells and Kells Bypass. Final Report on Cookstown Great 1, Co. Meath. Licence: E003137. Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy
Nelis, D. 2005 M3 Clonee-North of Kells; Contract 4, Navan - Kells and Kells Bypass. Report on Archaeological Assessment at Testing Area 9 in Cookstown Great, County Meath. Licence: 04E0918. Unpublished report, Irish Archaeological Consultancy
Nearby in the register
- Ring-ditchunder 1 mi
- Excavation - miscellaneousunder 1 mi
- House - prehistoricunder 1 mi
- Hut siteunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.