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Archaeology: A monument of no importance
by JOE FENWICK
Village Magazine
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Ringforts are one of the most common, though increasingly vulnerable,
archaeological monuments in the Irish countryside. These enclosed
farmsteads date largely to the Early Historic period - somewhere
between the arrival of Christianity and Anglo-Normans respectively –
and the size, shape and complexity of individual sites is largely a
reflection of the status of its occupants.
According to official reports, one of the 38 monuments to be directly
impacted by the M3 motorway passing through Tara's royal demesne is a
ringfort. It lies in the Gabhra Valley at Baronstown, mid-way between
the hills of Tara and Skreen. The remains of a sub-surface circular
ditch, 48m in diameter, were noted during preliminary geophysical
survey (by GSB Prospection), and subsequent test-trenching identified
additional archaeological features. The official classification of
this site as a ringfort, however, does not concur with the evidence
presented.
Firstly, the circular ditch, identified through geophysics, displays
no sign of an entrance causeway (i.e. a gap in its circuit). Secondly,
test-trenching has revealed the presence of a bank external to the
circular ditch, which is at odds with the normal "defensive"
arrangement of a ringfort's rampart. Thirdly, the only diagnostic find
associated with the site, a shard of unglazed pottery, dates to the
Bronze Age. Most curious of all, however, is the fact that this site
lies at the centre of a vast circular enclosure, part of which
coincides with the townland boundary and the remainder of which has
been mapped geophysically. It measures c.170m in diameter – large
enough to comfortably accommodate Croke Park's playing-field. The
existence of this second concentric enclosure is largely ignored in
the official report.
This is a particularly unusual monument and, on account of its size
and landscape context, is of enormous cultural significance. It may
yet prove to be a unique form of henge, a ritual monument dating to
the Early Bronze Age.
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