Enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated at the outer edge of a slight shelf in a fairly level landscape with a slight slope down SE-W-NW and a slight rise to the N. A small E-W canalised stream just to the S is one of the headwaters of the S-N River Skane. This area was first identified as a complex of archaeological features in a gradiometer survey (00R0064) by GSB Prospection (2001, 11-12) at Area 28/29 on the route of the proposed M3 motorway. Archaeological centre-line testing (04E0415) by J. Dempsey of Testing Area 1, Contract 2, prior to the construction of the motorway (excavations.ie: 2004:1336) confirmed the archaeological material, which was completely excavated (E003055) within the road-take by R. O’Hara as Roestown 2 between September 2005 and March 2007 (excavations.ie 2006:1634).

It consists of two areas separated by the existing NNW-SSE N3 Navan to Dublin road, a triangular area (A) at NE where an area of almost 9000 square metres was opened, and a subrectangular area (B) at SW where about 12000 square meters were excavated. Each area was occupied by a sequence of early medieval enclosures that were in use from the beginning of the seventh century through to the eleventh century AD, with limited use into the thirteenth, but lithic artefacts characteristic of those from the Mesolithic to the Early Bronze Age occurred as residual material throughout. Three major early medieval phases were recognised that can be applied to Area A with Phases 4 and 5 extending into the High Middle Ages: Phase 1 (c. 600-630); Phase 2 (630-710); Phase 3 (c. 650-780).

In Area A, E of the existing road, Enclosure 2 represents the earliest activity within this area and can be assigned to Phase 1 in the late sixth or early seventh century. It is an oval penannular enclosure (dims 35 E-W; 20m N-S) defined by a single V-shaped ditch (Wth of top 0.7-2.2m; D 0.4m), best preserved at W. There is a wide gap (Wth c. 13m) at SE, probably caused by the erosion of the enclosing feature. Bone finds from the ditch included a fragment of a double-sided comb and a possible skate-blade. Two sherds of imported E-ware suggest a sixth century date. The ditch had one major V-shaped re-cut (max. Wth 1.4m; D 0.4m) with a possible entrance at SE. This yielded animal bones with some metal slag and charred oats and barley. A bone pin or needle fragment, an iron key and another unidentified iron object were also recovered. This enclosure is not associated with any structures and it was replaced by the large rectangular Enclosure 3 during Phase 2. (O’Hara 2009, 10-11; 2009a)

See the attached plans from GBS Prospection (2001, fig. A64) _1 and O'Hara (2009, figs 9, 44, 45, Pl 2)
_1 Prospection data;
_2 Area A Site plan;
_3 Phase 1;
_4 Phase 2;
_6 Aerial view;

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 25 April 2022

O’Hara, R. 2009 M3 Clonee - North of Kells, Contract 2 Dunshaughlin - Navan. Final Report on the Archaeological Excavation of Roestown 2, Co. Meath. Licence: E003055. Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services

O’Hara, R. 2009a Early Medieval Settlement at Roestown 2. In Deevy, M. and Donald Murphy 2009 Places Along the Way, 57-82. NRA Scheme Monographs: 5.

References

Dempsey, J. 2004 M3 Clonee – North of Kells, Contract 2 Dunshaughlin - Navan, Report on the Archaeological Assessment of Testing Area 1, Roestown, Cooksland, County Meath. Licence: 04E0415. Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services

GBS Prospection 2001 N3 Navan to Dunshaughlin Road, County Meath: Geophysical Survey. Licence: 00R0064. Unpublished report, No. 2000/104. GBS Prospection