The King's Stables is an archaeological site in

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The earthwork known as the King's Stables is a Scheduled Historic Monument in the

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...

Tray A tray is a shallow platform designed for the carrying of items. It can be fashioned from numerous materials, including silver, brass, sheet iron, paperboard, wood, melamine, and molded pulp. Trays range in cost from inexpensive molded pulp tray ...

, in

Armagh City and District Council Armagh City and District Council was a district council in County Armagh in Northern Ireland. It merged with Banbridge District Council and Craigavon Borough Council in May 2015 under local government reorganisation in Northern Ireland to beco ...

area, at grid ref: H8388 4546.

Features

It consists of a boggy hollow, originally an artificial, flat-bottomed pool about 25 metres (82 ft) in diameter, partly surrounded by an earthen bank, about 300 metres (985 ft) north-east of Haughey's Fort. It dates to the late

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

, ca. 1000 BC, contemporary with Haughey's Fort. Excavations in 1975 discovered clay moulds for bronze leaf-shaped swords, pottery, and items of worked bone and wood. Also found were 214 animal bones and a human skull.

Name

The name is probably related to a local tradition that the ancient kings of

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

watered their horses and washed their chariots in the pool. The same name has been given to

Milecastle 48 Milecastle 48 (Poltross Burn), is a milecastle on Hadrian's Wall (). Its remains lie near the village of Gilsland in Cumbria where it was historically known as "The King's Stables", owing to the well-preserved interior walls. Unusually a substa ...

on Hadrian's Wall; in this case, the layout of the walls is reminiscent of stables.

References

*Chris Lynn, ''Navan Fort: Archaeology and Myth'', Wordwell Books, 2003 *R. B. Warner, "The Navan Archaeological Complex: a Summary", ''Ulidia'', December Publications, 1994 Prehistoric Ireland Archaeological sites in County Armagh Scheduled monuments in Northern Ireland Horse history and evolution {{Places of Interest in County Armagh

Features

Name

See also

References