County: Kildare Site name: ATHY: 31 Duke St. (rear)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 95E0170
Author: Clare Mullins
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 667936m, N 693835m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.990937, -6.988117
Trial-trenching was undertaken at a proposed development site on 19 and 26 August, as part of an archaeological evaluation study. The work was commissioned prior to the construction of four houses, six apartments and ancillary works. Planning permission for such development was deferred until an archaeological evaluation report was prepared for the site. The site is located within the zone of archaeological potential for Athy, and positioned outside the postulated line of the medieval town wall.
Seven trenches, with a total length of 53.25m, were opened by machine and were dug so that the bases were c. 0.15–0.25m below the surface of the sterile 'natural' subsoil. Close monitoring of the excavated material, coupled with detailed examination of the sections, indicated that no features of archaeological significance existed in six of the trenches. However, Trench 2, located in the central northern area of the site, produced three identifiable layers of organic archaeological material, the nature of which indicated a probable medieval date. The level of the uppermost surface of this material was 57.365m OD (Malin), and it is likely that these deposits were truncated in post-medieval times. The archaeological material appeared to occupy a hollow/depression in the sterile subsoil and hence remained undisturbed by later activity on the site.
39 Kerdiff Park, Monread, Naas, Co. Kildare
