County: Dublin Site name: KILEEK
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 11:41 Licence number: 00E0688
Author: Franc Myles, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 714626m, N 745423m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.446413, -6.274424
Two test-trenches were opened mechanically in advance of development on the site of an unclassified earthwork. The site is located approximately 800m south-south-east of the early church site in Kileek, in the same townland, several hundred metres to the north-west of Dublin airport. The site was identified by Paddy Healy in his Third Report on monuments and sites of archaeological interest in County Dublin, commissioned by An Foras Forbartha Teo in 1975. He pinpointed the ‘site of a fort’ on an elevated position in a stony area of the ‘fort field’. Geraldine Stout visited the site in 1992 but was unable to identify visible remains in a field of tillage.
The SMR designation centres the site on a field boundary south of Kileek Lane. The field boundary has now been removed, creating one large field. The division was, however, still evident, as the eastern field remained under tillage while the western field appeared to have been used as a dumping ground prior to the removal of the dividing tree line. The site location would appear to be correctly identified on the SMR constraint map at approximately 100m south of the laneway, where the ground is highest in either field.
It is unclear whether both fields were known as the ‘fort field’ or the designation applied merely to one of them. There is no local tradition attached to either field. The site is not marked on the first or subsequent editions of the Ordnance Survey maps and is situated between 70m and 75m OD, with extensive views of the surrounding countryside.
The assessment consisted of two trenches, which were opened mechanically across the centre of the SMR site at right angles. An examination of the sections and upcast did not reveal the presence of archaeological deposits.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
