County: Kildare Site name: HILLSBOROUGH
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: V.J. Keeley, c/o Kildare Co. Council
Site type: House - 18th century
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 683132m, N 713131m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.162173, -6.756834
One of six sites selected for investigation along the proposed route of the Kilcullen Link Motorway.
The house is marked on Noble and Keenan's map of Kildare dated 1752, and on Alexander Taylor's map of County Kildare dated 1783. It also appears on the O.S. 6" Sheet 23,1837 edition but is not present on subsequent maps of the area. Prior to excavation the site appeared as an irregular grassy mound, no indication of the contours of a house being observed.
The excavation revealed the remains of a substantial house composed of stone and brick. The two main phases of construction were established, defined by two rectangular structures and associated extensions. The maximum dimensions of the complete structure were 29.7m in length, and 14m in width. Only the foundations and lower parts of the ground floor were intact. The foundations were composed of courses of roughly dressed limestone. The outer walls were formed of stone and brick, in varying proportions. All internal walls were built of brick. Plaster was evident on both internal and external walls. A total of eight rooms and 2 cellars were excavated. These measured between 9m x 4m and 4.5 x 4.5m in area. Excavation in the central area of the house revealed evidence of the procedure by which the later extension was joined to the original building. The remnants of the porch or entrance feature were also found. Only two of the large dressed granite slabs remained in situ. Details of the owner of the house and the size of the associated land holding, have been collected from the historical records. It is representative of a relatively prosperous farm of the period. The large amount of ceramics and glass recovered from the site is also in keeping with this. Some material dates to the mid-late-eighteenth century, but the greater part of the ceramics date to the very early 1800s. Included in the assemblage are sherds of Staffordshire ware, a small amount of oriental porcelain and fine china. Details of the work on this site will be published in 1989 in the Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society.
