EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Antrim
Deer Park Farms, Co. Antrim
Early Medieval Raised Enclosure.
Grid Ref: D28660878 (32866/40878)
SMR No: ANT 034:005
Excavation Licence: N/A
Excavation Duration/Year: 1985-7.
Site Director: C.J. Lynn (Historic Monuments Branch, Department of the
Environment (N.I.)).
The site consisted of a raised mound (25m in diameter on top, and 6m high), set on a northfacing
slope. The site was completely excavated as it was to be removed under a farm
improvement scheme.
Excavation revealed four major phases of occupation, and the presence of at least 46
contemporaneous and consecutive structures (5.0m - 8.0m in diameter) (Fig. 20).
Although there was some evidence for prehistoric occupation, the earliest occupation phase
was represented by a ‘ring-ditch’, enclosing an area 22.5m by 25m. Two pairs of postholes
(one on the line of the outer edge of the ditch and the other pair just inside the inner edge)
have been interpreted as representing a gateway into the site. If this interpretation is correct,
it would presuppose the presence of an upstanding feature (either an earthen bank or a
wooden fence) which would have been associated with the circuit of the ditch. No such
feature was identified during excavation. The ring-ditch appears to have been in-filled prior to
the construction of the next phase, and ironworking slag and a furnace bottom were found in
this in-fill. A radiocarbon date derived from this material (see below) overlaps with date
ranges derived from structures within the enclosure, suggesting the possibility that some of
these structures may have been contemporary with the ring-ditch.
The earlier ring-ditch was replaced by a banked-and-ditched enclosure, of which only the
bank remains (the ditch presumably having been destroyed by the subsequent creation of the
mounded enclosure). The bank enclosed a slightly larger area than the ring-ditch (26m in
diameter), and had a stone-revetted inner face. The entranceway to this enclosure had an
up-hill lie, and seems to have followed that of the ring-ditch. This was presumably not an
issue at the time, as water could have drained away into the ditch, but in later phases this
resulted in the lower occupation layers becoming water-logged. A number of house
structures, related to this enclosure, suggest that there were various phases of construction
and abandonment during this phase of occupation. The earlier houses are circular in plan,
and are indicated by series of stakeholes, representing the uprights of wicker-walled
structures. At least one of these buildings has evidence for internal subdivisions.
Roundhouses continued to be built within the enclosure, but there are also examples of
‘figure-of-eight’ houses, built in a similar fashion. Some of these also show further internal
divisions, and, in the better preserved houses, the water-logged conditions allowed possible
bedding areas to be identified by the build-up of organic material. Excavations also revealed
that the timber door jambs and lintels were regularly recycled and re-used on new structures.
The interior of the enclosure appears to have been raised in stages, with part of the
enclosure still being occupied while the remainder was heightened by 1m. This entailed the
deliberate burial of earlier structures, and the construction of new buildings on this raised
area. By the time the entire enclosure was raised, it stood 2m above the old ground surface,
and was surrounded by a wide, deep, stone-revetted ditch. The subsequent occupation area
on top of the stone-revetted mound was slightly smaller than that of the earlier enclosure
(20m by 22m). The earliest houses built on the mound appear to have been ‘figure-of-eight’
shaped, but roundhouses were also present during this phase. Some of these structures
appear to have incorporated stone into their construction, and one of the last houses built
during this phase would appear to be stone-built and rectangular.
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