EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Westmeath
Rochfort Demesne, Co. Westmeath
Early Medieval Settlement Enclosure
Grid reference: N42774710 (242772/247101)
SMR No: WM026-051
Excavation Licence No: A006/003
Excavation duration/year: 2005; 2006.
Site directors: J. Channing (Valerie J. Keely Ltd.)
The site was located on top of a hillock, near to Lough Ennell. It had been identified as a
‘ringfort’ in the SMR, and was completely excavated in 2005 and 2006 due to future
destruction by a road scheme.
Excavation revealed that the site consisted of three concentric sub-circular ditches, with the
truncated remains of two banks (Fig. 298). The inner ditch (width 2.4m and depth 1.55m)
enclosed an area with an internal diameter of 38.9m. This proved to be the earliest enclosure
on site. The outer ditch (maximum dimensions of 3.95m wide and 1.82m deep) enclosed an
area with an internal diameter of 50m. This seems to have been constructed soon after the
inner ditch. The third ditch cuts through the outer ditch, and would appear to have been dug
in the eighteenth century.
The interior of the site was damaged by later activity, and only a number of rubbish pits were
identified within the area enclosed by the outer ditch. Artefactual remains from the site
suggest a period of occupation stretching from the Iron Age through into the early medieval
period. A swan-necked pin discovered in a pit near the entrance to the inner enclosure, has
been identified with similar pins dated c. 500 B.C. – A.D. 400. A ‘Dublin-type’ ring-pin, found
in the topsoil, has been dated to the tenth century A.D. Other finds included fragments of
bone combs, bone and metal needles, and a blue glass bead.
Although there were no clear traces of structural remains, around 200 litres of butchered
animal bone (largely sheep, cattle and pigs) were recovered from site. This led the excavator
to suggest that the site may have been used for social/ritual feasting, rather than domestic
occupation.
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