Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Metalworking site
Summerhill Demesne, County Meath, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Summerhill Demesne
- County
- Meath
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Coordinates
- 53.48041, -6.72293
- SMR number
- ME043-059002-
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)
- 1830 · V.3:11-15:XV. Britisches Reich. C. Kon: Ireland. a. Prov: Leinster. Counties: 1-12 (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
There is a cereal-drying kiln (ME043-059001-) in the SE angle of the rectangular enclosure (ME043-059----). Immediately W of it was a square structure (dims c. 4m x 4m) defined by clusters of post-holes at each corner except the SE where they would have been destroyed by a later ditch. At its centre was a single bowl furnace in the form of a pit (diam. 0.45m; D 0.15m) with a fire-reddened base and a vitrified clay lining. Two fills of silty and clayey sand with charcoal inclusions filled the pit, from which a sample of birch charcoal provided a C14 date of 720-970 cal. AD. Seven small pits, including three other bowl furnaces, are thought to be related. One furnace (diam. 0.62m; D 0.38m) with vertical sides has an oxidized edge and four fills with charcoal and metal slag. Another pit (diam. 0.5m; D 0.28m) with vertical, oxidised sides had four fills with charcoal and slag. A third pit (diam. 0.22m; D 0.05m) with an oxidised edge has a single fill of sandy clay and slag. These were close together within the central of three overlapping structures inside the S moat of the enclosure. (Collins 2009, 28-30)
Compiled by: Michael Moore
Date of upload: 29 June 2021
References
Collins, A. 2009 R158 Realignment Scheme, Summerhill to Kilcock. Final Report, Site 1 Summerhill Demesne. Licence: 07E0163. Unpublished report, CRDS
Nearby in the register
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
- Kiln - corn-dryingunder 1 mi
- Ring-ditchunder 1 mi
- Castle - tower houseunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.