Researchers at Belfast’s Queen’s University also contend that the site, just south of Dublin, is Ireland’s earliest proto-town. The roundhouse footprints at Brusselstown Ring found over the years detect 288 potential hut sites (Queen’s University Belfast/PA)The Queen’s University-led study examined existing archaeological data from Brusselstown Ring, as well as conducting new excavations. Dr Dirk Brandherm from Queen’s has argued that even if not every one of the anomalies represented a roundhouse, this would still make it the largest nucleated prehistoric settlement in Ireland and Britain by some distance. Dr Brandherm described Brusselstown Ring as a “site of major national and international heritage importance”. “Our discoveries challenge previous conceptions of prehistoric settlement organisation, showing a level of social complexity, community cohesion and regional importance not fully recognised before.

Source: The Times January 08, 2026 00:11 UTC