Henge

The National Monuments Service's description

Located on the floodplain on the N bank of a W-E section of the River Boyne in Brú na Bóinne. Exceptionally dry weather conditions during June / July 2018 brought out the cropmark of a large and perfectly circular enclosure (int. diam. c. 90m) defined by two narrow and closely-spaced but interrupted fosse features, which was first photographed by Anthony Murphy using a drone-mounted camera. Further images taken by NMS shows that the sections of fosse (L c. 5m) are regularly broken by gaps (Wth c. 5m), and there are at least two outer lines of single pits (max. ext. diam. c. 130m). An arc of closely set fosse sections (Chord c. 70m NE-SW) is outside the complete circle at ESE and probably represents an abandoned attempt at creating an enclosure. A rectangular enclosure (dims c. c. 15m NE-SW; c. 10m NE-SW) defined by single fosses and with a projecting opening or porch on the NW side is attached to the outside of the perimeter at NW and is an integral part of the enclosure.
No trace of this pit-circle was evident in LiDAR coverage (Davies et al. 2010, 180), but the raised linear feature (ME026-027----) noted by the LiDAR could be evident as a broad shadow that crosses the enclosure from the perimeter at E to the edge at NW. The rath (ME026-034----) appears to overlie the arc of the detached fosse at ESE. The pit circle (ME019-094----) is c. 80m to the WNW, and the embanked enclosure (ME026-006----) is c. 100m to the ESE.

See the attached views _1 from ESE; _2 from NW

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 16 July, 2018

References

Davis, S., Megarry, W., Brady, C., Lewis, H., Cummins, T., Guinan, L., Turner, J., Gallagher, C., Brown, T. and Meehan, R. Boyne Valley Landscapes Project. Phase III Final Report 2010. The Heritage Council. http://www.heritagecouncil.ie/fileadmin/user_upload/INSTAR_Database/AR01047_Boyne_Valley_Final_Report_10.pdf