County: Kildare Site name: BROWNSTOWN/CARNALWAY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0416
Author: Finola O'Carroll, Cultural Resource Development Services Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 685632m, N 711231m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.144709, -6.719975
Monitoring of soil-stripping took place at this site before gravel extraction. The site is in the townlands of Brownstown and Carnalway, near Kilcullen, Co. Kildare. The area is gently undulating, generally sloping from north to south, and mostly low-lying (from c. 140m to c. 120m OD). The site was under open pasture at the commencement of soil-stripping.
The site was stripped using a mechanical excavator fitted with a 2.5m-wide toothless bucket, working tracks of c. 13m wide (the reach of the digger arm). Four features were identified. In addition, a small flint scraper was found lying on the surface of the redeposited topsoil bund, but it was not possible to determine from which part of the site it had been taken.
Feature 1 was an irregularly shaped area of dense, charcoal-rich soil measuring c. 6m2. No finds were recovered from this feature, and no other features were noted during the soil-stripping in its vicinity. The shape and content of this feature suggest that it was an in situ burnt-out tree root.
Feature 2 was an area of staining containing animal bones and burnt material. It is in the southern half of the field and was first noted as a distinct spread of darker soil. It is slightly curved, c. 6m long and 0.4m wide in the middle, widening to c. 1m at the northern end and c. 1.5m at its southern end. The northern portion of the feature is subcircular; the southern portion is irregularly oval. The visible surface of the feature consists of a dark grey/brown, friable silt, with a small clay content and possibly a small ash component. It contains very little charcoal. There are small, irregularly shaped concentrations of animal bones at both the northern and southern portions, and on the eastern side of the southern end is a thin band of heat-reddened soil at the boundary of the feature.
To the north of Feature 2 is a further area of darkened soil, consisting of a linear feature 2.5m wide by at least 15m long, running north-east to south-west (Feature 2.1). It ends sharply at its south-west end but may continue for a further 30–40m to the north-east. It has the appearance of a remnant field boundary. Feature 2 was covered in plastic, and it and Feature 2.1 were fenced off for further examination.
Feature 3 was a small, subcircular concentration of charcoal, c. 0.2m in diameter, surrounded by a broader area of brown to yellow sand with charcoal flecks. The spread of charcoal-flecked sand fades out less than 1m from the centre of the feature. The concentrated area of charcoal ran to a depth of only c. 40mm, with a vague zone of darker brown, charcoal-flecked sand underlying it. The feature contained no other material or finds.
Feature 4 was a similar discrete concentration of charcoal c. 20m to the south-east of Feature 2. It is subcircular and c. 0.2m in diameter, with a spread of charcoal flecks thinning out away from the centre. Because of its proximity to Feature 2, and the fact that it is in an area of the development that will not be further disturbed in the short term, this feature was covered in plastic and marked out for further examination.
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