Stable

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated in a slight fold on a gentle W-facing slope, and located c. 40m SW of the site of the tower house (ME037-022----). Archaeological testing and excavation (01E0316) uncovered the foundations of a stable consisting of walls (Wth 0.6-0.9m) of one clay-bonded stone course creating a rectangular building (ext. dims c. 13m NE-SW; 7m NE-SW), the SW wall of which does not survive. It has a partly cobbled floor overlying some pits and gullies containing Leinster cooking ware. The entrance (Wth 1.6m) in the NW wall lacks door jambs and is approached by a cobbled path (Wth 1.6m) which continued across the building and may have exited through the SE wall. North of the path in the interior three stalls (dims 3.5m NE-SW; 1.6m NE-SW) were created by slot-trenches dug in the clay floor. South of the path in the interior there was a paved area in the S corner. Externally, there was a paved yard (dims 5m NE-SW; 3m NW-SE) immediately to the NW with a SW-NE covered drain that emptied into a SE-NW drain c. 1m N of the stable. Leinster cooling ware and Dublin glazed ware as well as horseshoe nails were found in ploughsoil and hillwash over the stable floors and cobbling. Some drystone walling SW of the stable could represent another structure. The foundation trench of a third structure with an oxidised clay floor was identified SE of the stable. The stable and associated features are preserved beneath a white geotextile and a covering of topsoil. (Hayden 2003, 7-9, 14)
An early SE-NW ditch (Wth of top 4.8m; D 0.6m) with Leinster cooking ware is just N of the stable and earlier than it. The SE-NW drain contemporary with the stable is built it its fill. The ditch may have turned S to the E of the stable but this could not be investigated. A second SE-NW ditch (Wth of top 2.6m; D 0.4m) with the base of a parallel double-faced wall partly built in its fill on the N side is c. 10m N of the stable and extends SE (L c. 25m plus). Sherds of Leinster cooking ware were the only artefacts recovered from this ditch, but a floor of oxidized clay was just N of the wall at one point. (Hayden 2003, 5-6, 9-10)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 21 August 2019

References

Hayden, A. 2003 Additional Test Trenching and Test Excavation at Scurlockstown, Co. Meath. Licence No. 01E0316 extension. Unpublished report, Alan Hayden Archaeological Projects