County: Kildare Site name: NAAS: Main Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0070
Author: Jim Higgins
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 689478m, N 719693m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.220106, -6.660128
Monitoring took place at the site of Moloneys Bakery, North Main Street, Naas, Co. Kildare, in advance of it being developed as a new McDonald's fast-food outlet.
The foundations of the structural walls of the new building were monitored once all of the buildings (apart from the facade and part of the shell of the structure fronting onto the main street) had been demolished and most of the concrete flooring had been removed. The rest of the site was to remain undisturbed, and the area was to be raised above the present floor level.
Cutting 1, which was 6m long, 0.9–1.05m wide and 1.6–1.8m deep, was to the rear of the site and at right angles to a stone boundary wall. Below several modern layers were found Contexts 7 and 8, which are fundamentally the same. Context 7 was a black, organic deposit with oyster and mussel shells (some small fragments of limpet shell were also noted, and, while animal bone also occurred, it was less common than in Context 8). It contained post-medieval pottery fragments, the occasional piece of twig, many pieces of limestone, stone and numerous pieces of crushed slate, mainly greyish-blue. Some very small pieces of schist also occurred.
Context 8 was a thick deposit of dark, organic material very rich in animal bone, including the remains of cattle, sheep and pigs. Again small stones and a large amount of broken slate also occurred. Among the finds was a variety of post-medieval pottery, some pieces of mortar and a fragment of ridge-tile. Also occurring was some imported German stoneware (?Raeren), a fragment of a stoneware 'Bellarmine' or 'Grey beard' jug and some pieces of wood. A piece of wine glass also occurred. Below this was boulder clay.
Cutting 2 was made along almost the entire length of the site. It produced little of archaeological consequence. In only two areas was there any undisturbed stratigraphy. One section produced a short segment of cobbled flooring. This was undoubtedly late, as a piece of willow pattern plate was found in the gravel beneath the cobbles and a clay pipe stem fragment was also found in this context.
The stratigraphy in Cutting 3 was similar to that in Cutting 1.
As the foundations of the new building were designed not to extend more than 0.2m below the present surface, and as no archaeological deposits would be disturbed, it was recommended that the building work should proceed as planned.
