County: Kerry Site name: BALLYDWYER WEST II
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0132 and exts
Author: Frank Coyne, Aegis Archaeology
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 491435m, N 612879m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.256897, -9.590237
Initially two trenches were excavated by hand here, before the N21 rerouting. They measured 24m in total length and 1m wide and revealed the enclosing element to be composed of clay. The interior of the site, which was entirely filled with peat, sloped dramatically inwards. This suggested that there was an independent water supply in the interior.
It was felt that the site appeared to have similarities to a ritual pond. Therefore a further archaeological dimension had to be considered—that artefact recovery was possible. A further investigation followed as an extension to the licence.
Further trenching was undertaken by hand to assess the depth and nature of the site and to determine conclusively whether it was archaeological in nature. The investigation proved, however, that the site was probably fluvo-glacial in origin and therefore not of archaeological significance.
This licence was also used for the monitoring of the entire N21 rerouting. This included the road itself, c. 10km long, and a number of slip roads. Several archaeological features were encountered during the monitoring, all of which were excavated (see Nos 328 and 338 Excavations 1999).
16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick
