House - Bronze Age, Portraine Demesne, Co. Dublin

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House – Bronze Age, Portraine Demesne, Co. Dublin

In the grounds of Portraine Demesne in north County Dublin, a circular groove in the earth marks where a family once lived, perhaps three thousand years ago.

The outline of a Bronze Age house, roughly six metres across, was traced not by standing walls or visible remains but by a curvilinear slot trench, the narrow channel into which upright timber posts would have been set to form the walls of a roundhouse, and by a scattering of external postholes averaging around eighteen centimetres in diameter. These postholes, placed at irregular intervals outside the main structure, suggest additional elements beyond the core dwelling, possibly a porch, a fence line, or ancillary supports. There is nothing dramatic to see from the surface, which is part of what makes the discovery quietly remarkable.

The site came to light not through a planned research dig but through the practical business of modern infrastructure. A geophysical survey, carried out under licence 08R029, followed by test excavation under licence 10E0121, were both conducted in advance of the Portrane, Donabate and Lusk Waste Water Treatment scheme, the kind of developer-led archaeology that has, over the past few decades, transformed what is known about prehistoric Ireland. The house sits within a broader zone designated as an area of possible multi-period habitation, meaning that people returned to this patch of north Dublin across different eras, not just the Bronze Age. Associated with the structure is an enclosure and a series of pits interpreted as evidence of domestic occupation, the ordinary residue of cooking, storage, and daily life. The findings were recorded by McQuade in 2011 and the record was compiled by Christine Baker and uploaded in February 2015.

Portraine Demesne lies on the Fingal coast, near the village of Portrane and not far from Donabate. The Bronze Age house itself is a subsurface monument, meaning there is nothing upstanding to observe on a visit; what exists is recorded in the archaeological record rather than in the landscape. Visitors to the area will find the broader setting of interest given its layered history, but anyone hoping to understand the house specifically would do better starting with the Sites and Monuments Record entry for DU012-095001 and the published excavation report, which give a clearer picture of what the geophysical and excavation work revealed beneath the soil.

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