1997:284 - NAAS: 1A North Main Street, Kildare

Trial-trenching was undertaken at this site in compliance with a request for further information from the planning authority in relation to a planning submission to develop the rear of the site and to undertake refurbishment of the existing street frontage premises. The site is located within the area of archaeological potential for Naas, as defined by the Urban Archaeological Survey.

The evaluation was carried out on 1 August and three trenches were mechanically excavated, although a limited amount of hand-work was also undertaken. Five layers were uncovered, of which only one, the basal layer, was of any archaeological interest. This consisted of a dark brown/black soft clayey silt which was organic in nature. This material generally existed in pockets/depressions in the underlying 'natural', as uncovered in the western half of Trench 3 and in the central area of Trench 2. The remains of a continuous layer of this material were also uncovered in the western area of Trench 2. The material had an average thickness of 100mm and produced a number of leather scraps and cattle horn-core fragments. However, no features or structures were encountered within the deposit, although a number of sherds of medieval and post-medieval pottery were recovered from the upper non-archaeological layers. Accordingly, it was recommended that groundworks associated with the rear extension to the site be monitored by an archaeologist.

This work was carried out on 2 September. The levels across the entire rear area of the site were reduced by up to 300mm, following which the foundations were excavated. A number of sherds of post-medieval pottery were recovered from the upper layers and one sherd of medieval pottery was recovered from the silty basal layer. No other features or deposits were uncovered during the course of this work.

39 Kerdiff Park, Monread, Naas, Co. Kildare