Burial

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a low E-W ridge. Centre-line testing (04E0485) by R. O’Hara (2004) of two fields in Testing area 1 of the Dunboyne link road (R157) to the M3 (excavations.ie 2004:1198) confirmed the presence of archaeological features where magnetic susceptibility and gradiometer surveys (06R0038) by J. Nicholls (2006) had already identified numerous anomalies. The area within the road-take was completely excavated (E003023) by A. O’Connell (O’Connell and Clark 2009) who uncovered a complex of monuments dating from at least the Early Bronze Age up to the high medieval period (excavations.ie: 2005: AD5; 2006:1525).

The monument consists of a large bivallate enclosure with a small D-shaped annexe (ME050-048005-) attached to the S of the outer fosse at SW. Twelve burials were recorded, of which five impinge on ditches associated with the development of the large enclosure, its annexe, or the extended enclosure, which provide termini post quem for those interments. All except two are located in the area between the inner and outer enclosures of the large enclosure at SW and they are well spaced, being up to 10m apart. They were all supine and oriented W-E with the head at W, and some with flexed arms may have been in shrouds. One burial produced a C14 date of 410-576 cal. AD, contemporary with Phase 1 of the large enclosure. (O’Connell and Clark 2009, 22-3)

See the attached images:
_1 Post-excavation plan of the large enclosure from O'Connell and Clark (2009, fig. 63)
_2 Plans of individual burials from O'Connell and Clark (2009, fig. 19)

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 5 November 2021

O’Connell, A. & Clark, A. 2009 M3 Clonee – North of Kells. Contract 1 Clonee – Dunshaughlin. Final report on the Archaeological Excavation of Castlefarm 1, Co. Meath. Licence: E003023. Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services
O’Hara, R. 2004 M3 Clonee- North of Kells. Contract 1 Clonee-Dunshaughlin. Archaeological Assessment at Testing Area 1, Castlefarm, County Meath. Licence: 04E0485. Unpublished report, Archaeological Consultancy Services

References

Nicholls, J. 2006 Castlefarm Testing Area 1. M3 Clonee - North of Kells Contract 1, County Meath. Archaeological Geophysical Survey. Target Archaeological Geophysics. Unpublished report No. 06/007.