2004:1867 - INCHANAPPA SOUTH, Wicklow

Monitoring was carried out on a proposed development site at Inchanappa South, Co. Wicklow. The site lies on the fringe of the eastern slopes of the Wicklow Mountains, with Carrowbawn, Ballycurry and Ballymaghroe hills rising 3km to the west. The site is within a small river valley north of Ashford village on the fertile coastal foothills that straddle the Wicklow Mountains. It is located at c. 40m OD adjacent to a tributary stream of the Vartry River on low-lying boggy ground. No modern settlement is located within its immediate vicinity; however, large estate houses are located within 1km of the site at Ballyhenry, Ballinahinch and Ballycurry Demesne.

Four new burnt mounds (possible fulachta fiadh) and small spreads of burnt stone of probable Bronze Age date were discovered at the site. The preliminary classification and dating of the sites is entirely based upon comparative analysis. One of the burnt mounds is c. 13m in diameter and appears to be intact; the other two appear to be a similar size but have been truncated and bisected by a field ditch; the final burnt mound appears to be largely destroyed, although cut features may survive below the burnt-stone deposits cut into the boulder clay. The remaining area of archaeological potential is a small spread of burnt stone c. 2m in diameter. A small rectangular granite pillar is located along the site’s southern boundary; no archaeological soils were encountered adjacent to this pillar and it remains in situ. The site of the proposed warehouse has now been stripped.

New archaeological sites in the townland of Ballyhenry and Inchanappa South were excavated in 2001 and 2002 in advance of the construction of the N11 Newtownmountkennedy–Ballynabarney road scheme, when a large number of previously unrecorded sites were discovered, principally dated from the Bronze Age (2200–700 BC). The most numerous site type discovered was the fulacht fiadh.

Emmet Stafford excavated one such site at Ballyhenry, where a mound measuring c. 15m in diameter and 0.3m deep was revealed (Excavations 2002, No. 1945, 01E1222); no trough was found in direct association with the Ballyhenry fulacht fiadh. Other fulachta fiadh sites were excavated at Inchanappa South by Eoghan Kieran (see No. 1866, Excavations 2004, 02E0180 ). Two fulachta fiadh were excavated by Ruth Elliot at Ballynabarny as well as pit features associated with flint and Bronze Age pottery (Excavations 2002, No. 1946, 01E0904). Audrey Gahan also excavated a number of sites in Ballynabarny townland, including a house site, a possible barrow and other settlement-related structures (Excavations 2002, No. 1955, 02E0547).