County: Wexford Site name: CASTLELANDS, Ferns
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0527
Author: Claire Walsh, Archaeological Projects Ltd.
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 702128m, N 649944m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.591172, -6.492690
Preliminary archaeological assessment was undertaken on a large development site on the outskirts of Ferns, Co. Wexford, on 5 October 1999. The site is a large green field, which slopes gently from north to south. It is c. 60m south-west of the early 13th-century castle of Ferns.
Test excavation was undertaken in tandem with geophysical ground investigation, carried out by GSB Prospection, Bradford. Anomalies noted through geophysical detection were investigated by opening a trench using a mechanical excavator with a grading bucket.
Visibility of features varied, depending on the nature of the fill, but in general the underlying pale boulder clay facilitated the identification of negative features.
Archaeological features were noted in Trenches 1 and 2. All were sealed by topsoil. While no datable artefacts were recovered from either area, the absence of medieval or later pottery from the features, and in any significant quantity from the overlying soils, suggests that they are probably of earlier date.
An extensive grouping of shallow pits, containing burnt material, soil and stones, is indicated on the southern end of the site. Further work is required to determine the nature, date and extent of this group of features.
Unusually for a well-drained area close to a medieval town, there were very few sherds of medieval pottery in the topsoil, while post-medieval wares were noted in all trenches except Trench 4. There is scant evidence of continuous cultivation of this field, and there appear to be no features of medieval date in this area of the town.
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