1996:410 - TINODE, Blessington, Wicklow
County: Wicklow
Site name: TINODE, Blessington
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A
Licence number: 96E0148
Author: Martin Reid
Author/Organisation Address: Flat 3, 28 Hannaville Park, Terenure, Dublin 6
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 700029m, N 719029m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.212262, -6.502406
The construction of two houses in a field off the main road north of Blessington (the N81) was located on a site which was identified as a ‘possible circular enclosure or earthwork’ in the Sites and Monuments Record. The site was noted on an aerial photograph (GSI photo no. 08889), where it was described as an earthwork or circular enclosure or oval crop-mark enclosure. It was also noted that there was ‘no visible surface indication’, meaning that it was not visible on the ground.
The site visit confirmed that there was no visible evidence for an earthwork.
The field is an east-facing slope used as sheep pasture. The house plots encroached upon the area of the possible earthwork. It was decided to excavate six test-trenches, two across the area of each house, one across the site of a proposed outhouse, and one in the general area of the septic tanks at the rear of one of the houses. The profile of all of these test-trenches showed brown humic topsoil, 0.3–0.55m deep, over yellow-brown stony clay subsoil. There were faint traces of cultivation ridges in some areas, but no evidence for earlier features or settlement was found and it was not possible to identify the enclosure described in the SMR.