County: Dublin Site name: CLONDALKIN: Kilcarberry Distribution Park, Nangor
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 17:37 (vicinity of) Licence number: 98E0572
Author: Dermot Nelis, IAC Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 706914m, N 731364m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.321737, -6.395216
Archaeological monitoring at this site was ongoing when the summaries published in Excavations 1998 (42) were written. A further three days' monitoring was required in January 1999 to bring this project to completion.
The development is for the provision of roads, sewers, water mains and other ancillary infrastructural works to serve an Industrial Distribution Park. Because of the presence of recorded archaeological remains within the general landscape, Dúchas The Heritage Service recommended that archaeological monitoring be requested as a condition to any planning permission. Reference to the Sites and Monuments Record reveals the presence of a number of monuments within the general landscape, although there are no known archaeological sites within the proposed development area. A 15th-century tower-house (SMR 17:34), recorded on the Down Survey of c. 1655, is 600m north of the development site. Nangor Castle (SMR 17:37), a castle incorporated into a 19th-century mansion, is 500m east of the development area. All buildings on the site have now been demolished, however, leaving no surface trace of the earlier building. The site of Kilbride Castle (SMR 21:4) is 600m south of the proposed development, although again no visible surface remains are present. An unplastered wall is extant, but it does not contain any cut stone, although it was probably constructed using material from the castle. Slightly to the south-east of this are a church and graveyard (SMR 21:00501), a ringfort (21:00502) and earthworks (21:00503). The church is in ruins and stands in a circular raised graveyard at the edge of a broad-bottomed valley. It is possible that this is the site of an early ecclesiastical enclosure.
Monitoring has failed to reveal any archaeological features on the site, with the exception of one 1m-wide north-south modern field drain. Finds have been restricted to the north-west corner of the site, but these include only several small sherds of post-medieval pottery, along with several sherds of modern pottery, all recovered from the topsoil.
Removal of topsoil has revealed naturally deposited limestone bedrock across the site, with occasionally a c. 0.5m-thick natural layer of friable, mid-grey, fine, silty clay with moderate stone inclusions, 30–70mm, evenly distributed, sealing the bedrock layer and sealed by topsoil.
8 Dungar Terrace, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
