EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Meath
Randalstown, Co. Meath
Early Medieval Unenclosed Souterrains and Well
Grid reference: N84217162 (284213/271627); N84037124 (285034/271248);
N84087139 (284080/271394)
SMR No: ME025-001; ME025-003; ME025-045
Excavation License No: N/A
Excavation duration/year: 1985; 1986
Site director: K. Campbell (Freelance)
Two souterrains were excavated in advance of the construction of a dam at Randalstown. An
ecclesiastical settlement was also excavated in the same townland at St Anne’s church (Kelly
1975:033, 1976:020), as was a large early medieval settlement enclosure in the neighbouring
townland of Simonstown to the east (Kelly 1975:032, 1981).
The first souterrain (ME025-001) was located 180m north of St. Anne's church and consisted
of a 13.4m long passage which was 1.2m wide. A set of postholes were identified at the
entrance indicating the former presence of a doorway. The floor deposit contained cattle,
sheep, pig, cat and bird bones and the point of a bone pin. A series of postholes and pits
were identified beside the entrance and this may have marked a dwelling site. The pits
contained charcoal and fragmentary animal bone, mostly teeth.
The second souterrain (ME025-003) was situated on the summit of a low hill and was located
840m east of the above. It was L-shaped in plan and was entered along an 8m-long curving
ramp to a step which led up into the main passage running at a right-angle to the left. The
latter was 11.7m in length and ended in a beehive chamber measuring 3.1m in diameter. The
souterrain had been largely destroyed and only a few stones of the base course on the ramp
remained. The beehive chamber was roofless but five capstones remained in the passage
where the walls were intact. The passage began with a creep, which was 0.45m high, and
increased in height towards the chamber until it was 1m high and 0.9m wide. Cattle, sheep,
pig and cat bones were found on the ramp floor and the only other find was the endplate of a
composite bone comb at the back of the chamber.
Five pits were located near the chamber. One contained the articulated bones of ten horse
feet, one complete horse skull, the jawbones of two others and a bone pin. A small flint
arrowhead was found on the surface.
An area around a well – known as the Meara Well (ME025-045) – was also investigated and a
bronze pin, with watchwinder head and zig-zag ornament on the stem, came from the base
of the clay. These types of stick pins have been dated to the last quarter of the tenth century
until the end of the eleventh century (O’Rahilly 1998, 23–4). A granite saddle quern and boatshaped
rubbing stone, a flint round-scraper and end-scraper, a fragment of bronze possibly
from a palstave and a small quantity of animal bone were recovered from the surface and
disturbed areas around the well.
(No plans were available for this site).
References:
Campbell, K. 1985:044. Randalstown, Co. Meath. www.excavations.ie.
Campbell, K. 1986:065. Randalstown, Co. Meath. www.exacvations.ie.
Kelly, E. P. 1975:032. Randalstown, Co. Meath. www.excavations.ie.
Kelly, E. P. 1975:033. Simonstown, Co. Meath. www.excavations.ie.
Kelly, E. P. 1976:020. Randalstown, Co. Meath. www.excavations.ie.
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