Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Ring-ditch
Killegland, County Meath, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Killegland
- County
- Meath
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Coordinates
- 53.50846, -6.40548
- SMR number
- ME045-076002-
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
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1790 "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
Situated on a slight rise at the tip of a low SE-NW spur and with the meandering W-E Broad Meadow River c. 150m to the W and N. Archaeological testing (05E1321) by S. Halliday (2007) in advance of a housing development identified numerous archaeological features some of which were investigated under the original licence (excavations.ie 2006:1496), but others, numbered Sites I and III, were resolved (excavations.ie 2006:1499) by J. Kavanagh (Kavanagh and Quine 2007) under a different licence (06E0871). Site I consists of two ring-ditches, and they might survive partially in a green area.
Ring-ditch B is a circular area (int. diam. 19.2m E-W; 18.5m N-S) defined by a V-shaped ditch or fosse (max. Wth 1.2m; max. D 0.32m) that has an uncut entrance causeway (Wth 2.4m) with a metaled surface at S. The stone metaling extends off to the S (L 6.4m) and there was a shallow deposit of charcoal-flecked silty clay and burnt bone partially over the metaling in the E terminus of the fosse. The fosse was filled with charcoal-flecked silty clay from which sherds of coarse decorated pottery and flint flakes were recovered. An inner fosse (Wth 1.2m; D 0.6m) is U-shaped in plan (int. dims 9.4m N-S; 8.9m E-W) with a wide opening (Wth 6.6m) at NW that is probably due to the shallowness of the ditch running out in this area. There were no internal features, and ring-ditch A is just to the NW but its fosse is cut by the outer fosse of this ring-ditch. Four pits (dims 1.5-1.8m; D 0.25m) filled with charcoal-rich silty clay and traces of oxidized clay were 13-20m distant from the ring-ditches but produced no artefacts. (Kavanagh and Quine 2007)
See the attached plan from Kavanagh and Quine 2007, fig. 5
Compiled by: Michael Moore
Date of upload: 22 December 2021
References
Kavanagh, J. and Quine, P. 2007 Archaeological Excavation Report, Site I, Killegland, County Meath. Licence: 06E0871. Unpublished report, ICON Archaeology
Halliday, S. 2007 Archaeological Monitoring Report. Proposed Residential Development, Killegland, Ashbourne, Co. Meath. Licence: 05E1321. Unpublished report, Arch-Tech
Nearby in the register
- Ring-ditchunder 1 mi
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
- Souterrainunder 1 mi
- Burnt moundunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.