EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Antrim
‘Doonmore’ (Cross td.), Co. Antrim
Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure.
Grid Ref: D17244263 (31724/44263)
SMR No: ANT 005:007
Excavation Licence: N/A
Excavation Duration/Year: 1938?
Site Director: V.G. Childe (for the Prehistoric Research Council for Northern
Ireland).
The site is set on top of a rocky peak rising almost vertically 12m from the surrounding
farmland. It was excavated under a grant by the Prehistoric Research Council for Northern
Ireland.
Excavation on the summit revealed areas of paving, a rectangular structure and two hearths.
Possible post sockets were also discovered around the edges of the summit, indicating the
likely presence of a light palisade (Fig. 21).
The nature of the site and the presence of sherds of green-glazed pottery suggest that the
site was used during the Anglo-Norman period. There is also substantial artefactual evidence
that the site was occupied during the early medieval period – there were large numbers of
souterrain ware pottery sherds (as well as some unidentified wheel-thrown pottery); shale
bracelets; iron bloom; and fragments of three rotary quernstones (one of which had a cross
carved in low relief).
Fig. 22: Plan of excavation at Doonmore, Co. Antrim (after Childe 1938).
Reference:
Childe, V. G. 1938. Doonmore, a castle mound near Fair Head, Co. Antrim. Ulster Journal of
Archaeology (Third Series), 1, 122–35.
37