2021:530 - BARRYSPARKS, Crowscastle, Dublin

Test excavations were undertaken on 17–18 May 2021 in dry and intermittently overcast conditions. 12 trenches totalling 945 linear metres were excavated. Topsoil, a loose brown sandy clay, varied from 0.3–0.8m in depth. Subsoil consisted of a brown and orange clay with occasional patches of shale. No features or deposits of archaeological significance were identified during the course of test excavations.

Trench 1 crossed the townland boundary between Crowscastle and Barrysparks; it consists of an intermittent hedge with no visible ditch. The excavated trench revealed a small in-filled ditch on the eastern, Barrysparks side, of c. 1m in width and c. 0.3m in depth filled with a loose brown sandy clay with frequent small stones and several larger stones along the base (max. dimension <0.2m). The only other features of note comprised several modern field drains, one rubble-filled.