Abbey

An Abbey is generally a collection of stone built buildings designed for the use of a Monastic Order. They vary in date from the mid twelfth century onwards.

Altar

An Altar is generally a flat topped piece of stone upon which mass is celebrated.

Altar Tomb

An altar tomb is a chest shaped tomb designed to resemble an altar. The uppermost part of the altar tomb sometimes bears an effigy of the person interred. An inscription frequently survives.

Annexe

An annexe is an addition to an upstanding building.

Architectural Fragment

Any fragment of stone with historical value but not directly associated with the site where it was found.

Armorial Stone

An Armorial Stone is a piece of worked stone that bears the coat of arms of a particular family.

Barrow

A Barrow is a raised burial mound of earth. Barrows can belong to any Prehistoric period.

Bawn

A Bawn is simply a fortified enclosure and is normally associated with a Tower House. They date from the fifteenth century onwards.

Boundary Stone

A boundary stone is an upright stone marking the borders of an ancient territory.

Bullaun Stone

A Bullaun is the name given to a large stone with a basin-like depression on its upper surface. It is possible that they were used as fonts.

Cairn

A raised mound of stone varying in size. Cairns are generally associated with prehistoric burial.

Cashel

A Cashel is an enclosed farmstead built using dry-stone walls. They are similar in function and plan to ringforts (see below). They date to the early Medieval period.

Children’s Burial Ground

These were normally used for the burials of unbaptised children and for people thought to be outside of society. They are believed to date from 1000 AD onwards.

Cist

A Cist is normally built with stone slabs. They generally contain cremated remains in a pot or crouched skeletal remains. Bronze Age in date they may also have associated grave goods.

Columbarium

A Columbarium is another term for a dovecote or pigeon house. They are sometimes associated with monasteries and are often built of stone.

Crannóg

A crannóg is an enclosure built on a natural or artificial island in a lake. They are difficult to date precisely without excavation and may have their origins in the Neolithic period.

Cross

This is a common field monument varying in form, style and purpose. They date from the early Medieval period onward.

Cross Base

A rectangular or square worked stone base for a cross.

Cross Head

Often all that remains of a Cross is the Head. Simply the uppermost part of a cross, with or without the arms and supporting central portion.

Cross Slab

Simply an upright stone slab with a cross either incised or in relief.

Cross Inscribed Stone

Similar to the Cross slab but may vary in shape.

Cultivation Ridge

A ridge of earth, which has built up as a result of ploughing or tilling.

Date Stone

A block of stone with a date carved into it.

Dwelling

An artificially built structure in which people lived. This term can be applied to buildings from any archaeological period.

Earthwork

A man made monument constructed from upcast earth. This term can therefore be applied to a wide range of features ranging from the Late Bronze Age until the late Medieval Period.

Ecclesiastical Enclosure

Specifically, an enclosed area associated with ecclesiastical structures. A monastic field enclosure for example.

Ecclesiastical Remains

The remains of any of a range of ecclesiastical buildings or enclosures. This could be the remains of churches or round towers for example.

Ecclesiastical Residence

This term can be applied to any structure that was inhabited by an ecclesiastic.

Enclosure

This can be applied to any area that is defined by walls, banks or ditches.

Field System

The earliest field systems in Ireland date to between 4000-2500 BC. The vast majority however belong to the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries.

Flat Cemetery

A flat area of ground used to inter two or more individuals. Cemetery can be used to define burials from any period from the prehistoric through the early Medieval period and onwards.

Font

A font is simply a receptacle (usually in a church) for holding baptismal water.

Fortified House

This term is generally applied to a fortified dwelling of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Fulacht Fiadh

Fulacht Fiadhs tend to date from the mid to late Bronze Age (1500 BC to 500 BC approximately). They are one of the most common field monuments in Ireland and are believed to have been used for cooking purposes.

Gatehouse

This may be defined as a room over a gate sometimes of two stories. Surviving examples from the early Medieval (500-1000 AD) period are rare; they are more commonly associated with Medieval castles.

Gateway

A structure built over a gate or any entrance or opening for a gate.

Grave Slab

These date from the early Medieval period and are simply slabs or gravestones with inscriptions. They continue in use until the present.

Graveyard

A graveyard is on consecrated ground with defined grave markers usually enclosed by a wall or a bank and frequently associated with remains of a church.

Habitation

A house or home. This term can be used for a house or home from any archaeological period.

Hearth

This can be defined as the floor or base of a fireplace or the bottom of a blast furnace where molten metal collects

Hillfort

A banked and ditched enclosure on the summit of a hill for defensive purposes They are thought to date to the Late Bronze Age or Iron Age.

Holy Well

Holy wells were customarily visited for cures and are often associated with a local saint. The origins of their use are undateable but they were used throughout the early Medieval period and many are still in use today.

Inscribed Stone

This can describe any stone with inscribed writing. This could be Ogham inscriptions (see below) or inscriptions in any written language. They can therefore date from the Iron Age through to the Medieval and late Medieval periods.

Iron Working

The first definite traces of iron working occur in the late Iron Age (0-500 AD approx.) In the late Medieval period iron began to be produced on a large scale.

Leper Hospital

Dating to the Medieval period, these were any hospital specifically built to house people with any skin disorders. Leper Hospitals were generally run by a Monastic Order.

Linear Ditch

A ditch with any associated bank being constructed from the upcast material.

Linear Earthwork

This term can be used to define a linear earthwork from any period. It could be on the scale of a simple field boundary or a large continuous earthwork such as the Black Pigs Dyke.

Linear Feature

Any feature which appears to run along a specific line whether identified on the surface through surveying or sub-surface through geo-physics etc.

Mansion

The most basic definition of a Mansion is of a large house. The term usually describes the houses built by the landed Gentry from the late seventeenth century onward.

Megalithic Structure

Any structure built using large stones. It generally refers to the tombs of the Neolithic period (4000 –2000 BC approx.).

Megalithic Tomb

A tomb built using large stones. There are four main types and they date from the Neolithic period and the earliest part of the Bronze Age.

Metalworking Site

A site on which metalworking was practiced. They can therefore date from the Bronze Age through to the late Medieval period. Different techniques and technologies would have been used in the different periods.

Mill

Used to grind grain, water powered mills first appear in the late Iron Age. As technologies changed, so did the design of mills. They were a common feature in the Medieval period.

Millrace

A millrace is the current of water that drives a mill wheel.

Moated Site:

Generally a rectangular or square earthwork with a moat. Common in the southeast of the country and generally associated with the Anglo-Norman settlements. They tend to date to the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.

Monastic Complex

A monastic complex is any series of buildings that served a monastery some of the buildings were of stone. It would have associated outbuildings and field systems. They date from the late twelfth century onward.

Motte

A raised, flat topped mound of earth. They were the earliest earthwork defences of the Anglo Normans. They date to the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Motte and Bailey

A Bailey is an entrenched lower level associated with some Mottes. It would have held any secondary buildings and was normally surrounded by a moat.

Mound

A raised feature made of earth or earth and stones. Could belong to any archaeological period.

Nunnery

A series of buildings belonging to and for the use of a Conventual order.

Ogham Stone

A stone inscribed with an early form of writing known as Ogham. The Ogham alphabet was derived from Latin script and the inscriptions are commonly in old Irish. They date to the early Medieval period.

Pit

An artificially dug hole over a certain size may be described as a pit. They are a common feature in all periods of archaeology.

Portal Tomb

One of the four principal types of Megalithic tomb it basically consists of several large uprights and a capstone. They date to the Neolithic period (3800-3200 BC approx for Portal tombs).

Potential Site

This is the term given to any site that has archaeological potential. It may have been identified due to the presence of earthworks for example but no definitive dating evidence may be forthcoming from them. Potential sites could belong to any archaeological period.

Priory

This is the term given to a monastery governed by a prior or a Nunnery governed by a Prioress.

Rectilinear Enclosure

An rectangular area bounded by straight lines may be defined as a Rectilinear Enclosure.

Ring Barrow

Similar to a Barrow (above) a Ring Barrow is a low circular mound of earth enclosed within a ditch and bank. They normally cover a central burial frequently a cremation or a stone cist. They may be Neolithic, Bronze Age or Iron Age.

Ring Ditch

Similar to a ring Barrow

Ringfort

A ringfort is a roughly circular area enclosed by a bank and ditch. Their diameter varies greatly and it is believed that they were used as enclosed farmsteads or cattle enclosures. They date from the early Medieval period onwards.

Rock Scribing/Art

This is a specific type of art with a small range of motifs. This type of art is believed to be Bronze Age (2500-500 BC approx) due to its association with monuments of that age.

Round Tower

The main function of a round tower was as a belfry. The earliest stone examples date to 1000 AD approximately.

Settlement

An area in which people dwelt over a period of time.

Settlement, Deserted

A settlement that has been abandoned for any of a variety of reasons. They may date to any archaeological period.

Settlement, Hearth

A hearth used by the inhabitants of a settlement.

Settlement, Shrunken

This term may be applied to any settlement that has decreased in size.

Souterrain

A souterrain is an underground series of creepways and chambers and are often associated with ringforts. They also date to the early Medieval period.

Standing Stone

A Standing Stone is simply an upright stone. They are probably Bronze Age in date.

Star-Shaped Fort

These date to the seventeenth century in Ireland and were built for coastal defence. Their defining feature is angled projections at the corners.

Stone Circle

A Stone Circle basically consists of a ring of standing stones. They are believed to be ritual sites dating to the Bronze Age.

Stone Sculpture

A work of stone with the deliberate intention of portraying a specific item, person or object may be termed a Stone Sculpture.

Stoup

A stoup is a holy water basin. They date from the early Medieval period onwards.

Togher

A Togher is a wooden trackway across a bog or marshy area. Excavated examples date from the Neolithic up until the later Medieval period.

Tomb

A large stone built structure used for interring human remains may be called a Tomb. They vary in type from
Megalithic Tombs (Neolithic) to the elaborately carved examples of the Medieval Period.

Tower House

Tower Houses date to the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries. They are usually rectangular in design and three to five stories in height.

Town Defences

Town Defences were defences constructed to defend a town and date from the late twelfth century onward. Permanent defences would have been stone walls but earthen embankments are also known. Moats would also be an associated feature.

Trackway

Similar in terms of date and function to a Togher.

Tumulus

A Tumulus is a large mound of earth. Some were raised over a burial or tomb others served as boundary markers. They date from the Neolithic period onwards.

Urn Burial

An Urn Burial is any burial that contains the cremated remains of one or more individuals. The may be located at the centre of Barrows and Ring Barrows (see above).

Village

A Village is a small group of houses and other buildings not large enough to be called a town.

Watermill, Horizontal

Horizontal Watermills are so called because the wheel was laid horizontally in an adapted stream or an artificial pond. They are usually dated between the seventh and late tenth centuries.

Wayside Cross

Wayside Crosses belong to the later Medieval period and are memorials to specific individuals or families.

Well

A well is a shaft that has been sunk into the ground with the deliberate intention of obtaining water. They are sometimes stone lined and are in use from the Medieval period onwards.