County: Kildare Site name: KILDARE: White Abbey Rd, Crosskeys
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Finola O'Carroll
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 672605m, N 712495m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.157997, -6.914378
The site lies immediately to the north of the 'Harp Bar', which is on the west side of White Abbey Road, Kildare town. This area is inside the zone of archaeological potential as designated by the Urban Archaeological Survey, (Bradley, Halpin and King, 1986).
Work was carried out over a period of two days, 9th–11th March 1991. In all, a total of five trenches was opened. Trench A ran the width of the east end of the site and was set 1m from the wall at the road. Trenches B and C were each 27m long and ran east-west. Trench D was 12m long also running east-west and Trench E was 12.50m long and ran north-south.
The subsoil was a pale yellow clay, dry with some gravel inclusions. The topsoil was dark and humic and averaged 20cm in depth over most of the area examined, however it deepened at the western end of the site.
Four features were uncovered by trenching.
Two were of modern date, a soak hole containing modern glass associated with two sherds of wheel-thrown glazed ware, (resembling Dublin glazed ware) in Trench B, and a depression at least 2.50m wide connected with the burning of lime, most likely associated with the building of the outhouses nearby in Trench E. A third pit which produced no finds but some animal bone was uncovered in Trench D.
The fourth was a ditch which occurred at the junction of trenches D and E. It was 1.2m deep and 1.45m in width, running in an east-west direction and was not noted in any of the other trenches. The fill was of sandy loam with some of the yellow clay through it, especially noticeable in a band near the top, and there were stones clustered at its centre, 0.4m above the base, which seemed to be acting as a drain. The fill beneath these stones was clearly affected by water. It may have been an existing ditch reused as a field drain but there was no evidence to indicate re-cutting. The stones which were seen may simply have been part of the fill. The fill was quite uniform. A small quantity of animal bone was recovered from near the base. No other finds occurred.
Grand Canal Dock, South Dock Road, Ringsend, Dublin 4
