Located on a rise towards the bottom of a NW-facing slope with a NW-SE stream c. 70m to the NW. An occupation level was identified by Claire Cotter on the line of a Bórd Gáis pipeline from Dunleer, Co. Lough, to Mullagh, Co. Cavan. It proved to be a Neolithic house with a Bronze Age phase, and was excavated (E000633) by Eoin Halpin. The house was rectangular (dims c. 10m x 6m) divided into two rooms, the E (dims 6m x 5.5m) with a doorway (Wth 1m) at E to the exterior and an internal doorway (Wth 1.5m) to the W room, the full extent of which did not survive and it may be that the W end was open. Three post-holes on the central axis and the load-bearing post-and-plank N and S walls supported the roof. A pit in the E room was filled with burnt stone and ash. Charcoal samples from the foundation trench produced calibrated determinations of 3971-3706 BC and 3936-3697 BC. A Bronze Age urn burial (ME005-105001-) was inserted in the floor of the E room. A gully (Wth c. 0.4m; D 0.1m) c. 2m to the E was C-shaped (dims c. 7m N-S; c. 6m plus E-W) and may have formed an associated enclosure. Just 2m N of this was an irregularly-shaped stony platform (dims c. 10m E-W; 5m N-S). Amongst the finds were sherds of Neolithic pottery. (Halpin and Gowen 1991; Halpin 1992; Gowen 1992)
Compiled by: Michael Moore
Date of upload: 5 September 2018
Description Source: Department of Housing, Local Government & Heritage