County: Kildare Site name: MAULDINGS, Naas
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0468
Author: Rosanne Meenan, for ADS Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 691831m, N 721229m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.233503, -6.624473
The development site is c. 1.7km north-east of the centre of Naas, on the main Dublin road. Maudlins House is a large, two-storey house with an extension at the back and a verandah on the north side. It is listed in the County Kildare Development Plan. It would appear to be 18th/19th-century in date; a cursory examination of the exterior did not reveal features that would suggest an earlier date.
The development site, 3.15 acres, comprises the dwelling-house, with sheds on the other site of the driveway from the house and gardens surrounding the house on all other sides. There is a tennis court in the garden. There has been some landscaping in the garden, with terracing stretching northwards from the house. The site is surrounded by industrial estates on all sides.
The development comprised renovation and extensions to Maudlins House, along with the construction of office buildings and warehouses. An underground carpark is also planned. The sheds will be demolished. There will be access from the adjoining industrial estates.
The developer was required by the planning authority to carry out archaeological testing on the development site. The nearest recorded monument is SMR 19:21, which is listed as a 'graveyard site' and marked as a 'cemetery' on the OS 6-inch map. This lies c. 650m south-west of the development site, on the road into Naas. While there are no other known monuments marked for the townland, the townland name 'Maudlings' indicates that there may have been activity in the medieval period
Ten trenches tested the site. Glacial deposits ranging from pure gravel to pure sand were exposed. In the vicinity of the house was evidence for introduction and dumping of material associated with landscape terracing. Further away from the house the glacial deposits were overlain by topsoils and garden soils. Archaeological deposits were not observed.
Roestown, Drumree, Co. Meath
