Ecclesiastical enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated in a fairly level landscape that slopes down to small S-N stream, and surrounding Killegland church site (ME045-004----). Archaeological testing (05E1321) by S. Halliday in advance of a housing development identified numerous archaeological features, some of which were investigated by the same archaeologist under the original licence (excavations.ie 2006:1496). The features encountered in this area, designated Site 1, were further sampled by J. Kavanagh, and probably relate to the early church rather than to the rath that is visible inside the graveyard (excavations.ie 2006:1499). The features are now preserved in a fallow area (radius c. 30m) around the graveyard.
The principal feature is a wide, round-bottomed and steep-sided fosse (L c. 80m; Wth of top 3.4-5m; D c. 1.95m) which was sampled at five points W of the graveyard. Although it appears in straight sections, they are centered on the graveyard and they can be interpreted as an ecclesiastical enclosure that might be rectangular rather than circular (dims c. 100m E-W; c. 100m plus N-S). The fosse (Wth of top 3.4-5m; max. D 1.9m) was filled with mid to dark brown silts and clays, from which no artefacts were recovered although there were some animal bones. There is an unexcavated causeway (Wth 3.8m) that is edged with stones on either side at NW (Halliday 2007, 18-22). The interior was cut by numerous ditches and gullies but there were also some corn-drying kilns and two souterrains. There were also numerous lengths of various ditches and pits. Recovered artefacts including bone combs, lignite bracelets, pins, iron knives, bone needles and unidentified iron objects suggest a date in the 8th to 11th century AD. Outside the ecclesiastical enclosure to the N numerous ditches intimate elements of a field system, and high medieval pottery, iron slag and fire-spots occurred over these silted features (ibid. 2007 23-26).
A souterrain (ME045-004005-) is inside the ecclesiastical enclosure at its SW extremity, sitting neatly inside the angle where the fosse approaching from the S changes direction from ESE-WNW to SSW-NNE. It consisted of a passage (L c. 9.3m N-S; Wth 0.76-1m) which had a circular beehive chamber (int. diam. 3.2m) at the S end. Only the basal courses of the passage (max. H 0.68m) and chamber (max. H 1.32m) survived (ibid. 18-19). A second souterrain (ME045-004006-) was recorded by J. Kavanagh (excavations.ie 2006:1499) that was located to the SE of the first. A rectangular chamber (dims 4.2m x 3.4m) consisting of only the basal courses (max. H 0.4m) has a cross-wall (L 2.2m). It led to the slightly curving passage (L 17.4m) extending ESE, of which only the basal courses (H 0.3-0.9m) survived, but it had a metaled floor surface where it ran over an earlier silted ditch. The passage was roughly parallel with the S ditch of the ecclesiastical enclosure, and at the E end was a circular beehive chamber (int. diam. 3.2m) with drystone walls (max. H 1.7m).

See the attached plan of the ecclesiastical enclosure from Kavanagh and Quine (2007, fig. 4)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 22 December 2021

References

Halliday, S. 2007 Archaeological Monitoring Report. Proposed Residential Development, Killegland, Ashbourne, Co. Meath. Licence: 05E1321. Unpublished report, Arch-Tech

Kavanagh, J. and Quine, P. 2007 Archaeological Excavation Report, Site I, Killegland, County Meath. Licence: 06E0871. Unpublished report, ICON Archaeology