EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Down
Gransha, Co. Down
Early Medieval Raised Enclosure.
Grid Ref: J53147694 (35314/37694)
SMR No: DOW 006:002
Excavation Licence: N/A
Excavation Duration/Year: 1972; 1982.
Site Directors: C. J. Lynn (Historic Monuments and Buildings Branch, Department of the
Environment (N.I.))
Excavation was undertaken in 1972, and again in 1982, on top of an artificial mound, 6.7m high and
22m in diameter, which was set on the edge of a former bog.
Earliest activity on the site was indicated by a small ditch (1.8m wide and 0.8m deep) which ran
around the mound. There were also traces of a low (possibly timber-revetted) bank, and the burnt
remains of a possible associated palisade (Fig. 98). A bronze penannular brooch and a number of
sherds of E-ware were recovered from the ditch of this phase.
The second phase was indicated by a 0.3m thick occupation layer and there was some evidence for a
low external bank and shallow ditch. A number of stone-lined hearths were found from this phase, as
well as an arc of stake-holes which may represent part of a circular wattle-built structure. Possible
seed drills were uncovered in the upper part of the occupation layer during the 1982 excavation.
Finds from this occupation phase included pottery (E ware and souterrain ware) and metal objects
(iron knives, a stylus and some scraps of bronze). Stone spindle-whorls and hones were found, along
with pieces of clay moulds (including one for a decorated brooch-pin terminal). Over 40 fragments of
flat stones with geometric designs were also found and were interpreted as trial pieces.
In the final phase the domed second phase occupation layers were deliberately re-modelled into a
steep-sided, flat-topped mound. Thirty large rubbish pits (1m wide by 1m deep) were dug into the
top of the mound, but the only structural remains found were in the form of two stone-kerbed
hearths and the possible foundation for a dry-stone built rectilinear building. There was some
evidence for a wooden perimeter fence around the top of the mound. Finds from this phase included
souterrain ware, lignite armlets, a green-and-white glass bead, and a bronze spiral-ringed pin.
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