County: Kildare Site name: CASTLEDERMOT: Athy Road
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0225
Author: Clare Mullins
Site type: Town defences
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 677530m, N 684857m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.908961, -6.847381
An archaeological evaluation was carried out at a site at Athy Road, Castledermot, Co. Kildare, from 28 October to 2 November 1998, in response to a request for further information by the planning authority regarding an application to construct a housing development.
The proposed development site is roughly triangular in outline, occupying most of the area of land between Athy Road on the west, Barrack Road on the east and Carlow Gate Street on the south. The south-west corner of the site abuts the site of Carlow Gate, while the intersection of Carlow Gate Street and Barrack Road, beyond the eastern corner of the development site, is the site of a castle. The known line of the town wall runs through the development site from Carlow Gate north-eastwards to Barrack Road, and the line of this wall can still be made out in part of the site.
Seven test-trenches were inserted, based along five trench lines, distributed approximately evenly over the entire site. Two of the trenches were designed to transect the line of the town wall and to permit the comparison of the stratigraphy on the external and internal sides of this feature.
The test-trenches were generally dug to a depth of 0.5–1m below the present ground surface. Several features of archaeological significance were identified, including the remains of the town wall, which was indicated by the linear concentrations of stone and rubble uncovered on both the eastern and western sides of the site.
On the western side of the site a number of features were noted on the internal side of the town wall. These included a number of small linear cut features as well as at least two possible ditch features, which ran roughly parallel with the line of the town wall. A number of sherds of medieval pottery were found within the fills of these features.
On this side of the site the remains of the town wall appeared to be indicated by a band of uncut stone of various sizes, mixed with mortar, which occurred precisely on the line of the town wall as indicated by the Urban Archaeological Survey. This band of stone was 5.2m wide and appeared to run in a north-east to south-west direction. It occurred at a depth of 0.5m beneath the ground surface. Nothing was noted on the external side of the town wall on this side of the site.
On the eastern side of the site three distinct bands of stony material, which ran parallel to the line of the town wall, were noted in the known vicinity of this structure. They measured, respectively from south to north, 3.8m, 1.8m and 3m wide and, combined, covered an extent of almost 13m. They occurred between 0.2m and 0.4m beneath the ground surface. These features may indicate a complex structure to the town wall in this area.
No features were observed north of the line of the town wall on this part of the site. Other features noted on the internal side of the town wall in this area included a number of possible medieval drains, which may emerge from a habitation area in the vicinity of the street front and run northwards towards the town wall. One of these features produced a medieval iron arrowhead.
The area of the site outside the known line of the town wall was largely free of archaeological remains. However, a number of non-specific features also occur in this area. A layer of brown, sandy silt was noted immediately outside the line of the town wall in the central area of the site. This layer produced a single sherd of medieval pottery and a medieval bronze ring-brooch. The occurrence of two medieval finds within this layer, together with the absence of modern inclusions, strongly suggests that this represents a medieval soil horizon.
One feature of particular interest occurred in the north-western area of the site. It consisted of a curving band of red and black material. This continued for a distance of at least 1.5m. The material inside this curving band contained fragments of a white material that appeared to represent burnt stone. This may represent a phase of activity pre-dating the medieval occupation of the area.
A number of modern stone water conduits and other drains were found in the north-western part of the site.
39 Kerdiff Park, Monread, Naas, Co. Kildare
