Fourknocks Passage Tombs | Excavation Reports<
P.J. Hartnett who excavated Fourknocks (centre of photo), 1950
Fourknocks I Excavation Report
Excavation of a Passage Grave at Fourknocks, County Meath by P.J. Hartnett, 1957
The Delvin stream has its source in Garristown Hill, Co. Dublin, and flows
in a north-easterly direction to enter the Irish Sea at Gormanston on the Dublin
Meath border. For most of its fifteen miles' course it forms the boundary between
counties Dublin and Meath. To the north and south of it are long, east-west,
saddle-backed ridges sometimes rising to over 500' O.D.
Numerous mounds and other earthworks, the majority of them hitherto unrecorded, are sited on these
ridges on both sides of the Delvin valley. On one such ridge in the townland of Fourknocks,
Co. Meath, are three barrows or mounds, one of which, Fourknocks I, the subject of this paper, was
excavated in the autumn of 1950 and was found to cover an undisturbed passage
grave. A second mound, Fourknocks II, occupying slightly higher ground
50 metres east of No. I, was partly excavated in 1951. This and the remaining
mound, Fourknocks III, were completely excavated in 1952.
Attention was first drawn to the Fourknocks area by Mrs. Liam O'Sullivan
of Dublin, whose uncle, Mr, Patrick Maguire, an enthusiastic antiquary, lives
at Snowtown, Naul. In August, 1949, Mr. Maguire brought the writer to see
sites on his own land at Naul, and on the land of Mr. Thomas Connell at Fourknocks.
The first of the Fourknocks sites was a rather insignificant mound, much
overgrown with brambles and rank grass. A funnel-shaped pit dug into its west
side, said to have been made towards the close of the last century by treasure
seekers, invited closer attention.
With the assistance of Mr. Maguire some of the overgrowth was cleared to reveal,
about 1 metre below the surface, a large flat slab partly embedded in the sides of the pit.
On the exposed eastern edge, very definite grooves could be felt, which on closer inspection were found to
form a chevron and lozenge pattern.
In the circumstances a more thorough examination of the site was called for,
and for this the permission of the landowner was generously accorded. The
project had the approval of the Archaeological Exploration Committee of the
Royal Irish Academy, and with moneys provided from a State grant administered
by the Special Employment Schemes Office the site was completely excavated
during the period of nine weeks following September 11, 1950.
A certain amount of restoration work had to be done, re-setting of orthostats and securing in
concrete where necessary and the soil replaced and re-sodded to a height of
3 metres in anticipation of future conservation by the National
Monuments Branch of the Office of Public Works. In deciding the limits of the
restored mound, the encircling kerb of stones on old ground level was followed.
All the finds from this excavation have been acquired for the National
Museum.
Fourknocks I Excavation Report - 29mb PDF
Excavations at Fourknocks, 1950
Fourknocks II and III Excavation Report
The excavation of two tumuli at Fourknocks (sites II and III), County Meath by P. J. Hartnett, communicated by G. Eogan.
Published by the Royal Irish Academy 1971
Site II During the Neolithic period Passage Grave builders constructed an
ovoid tumulus that measured 28m by 24m and around 4m in height. The
tumulus, surrounded by a ditch, covered two separate monuments: a bell
shaped cairn and a megalithic passage with a trench placed transversely
to it. The passage and trench were used for human burial. During the Early
Bronze Age the site had a secondary use; at that time burials, some of them in
cists, were inserted into the tumulus.
On the south-western side of the site a hoard of Hiberno-Norse coins was
discovered. In fairly modern times a lime-kiln was built into the
edge of the mound on the northern side.
Site III This was a small tumulus about 13m in diameter and 2m in height,
composed of layers of sod, clay and stones. It covered a central pit
that contained some cremated human bone. High up in the mound a food
vessel and an urn were found. The latter contained the cremated remains of a
young child.
Fourknocks II and III Excavation Report - 22mb PDF
Excavations at Fourknocks, 1950
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