2000:0464 - BALLYSHANNON, Kildare

Monitoring of topsoil removal for eight large detached dwellings and associated services was carried out between 8 and 26 May 2000. The site lies c. 7km south-west of Kilcullen. It is indicated as two fields on Ordnance Survey maps but was recently consolidated into one, through the removal of a field boundary. An archaeological complex comprising a motte site, a church site and a star-shaped fort lies c. 250m north-east of the development site.

The stratigraphy was relatively uniform across the site. A light orange-brown, silty clay topsoil 0.3–0.6m thick overlay a red, silty clay subsoil. A compact, yellow boulder clay containing patches of light brown marl was occasionally encountered. Twelve features or zones of activity were identified. Several are clearly modern. These include a cut for the water mains and the cut of a field ditch, both of which run alongside the public road that skirts the southern boundary of the site. Other modern features were the recently removed post-and-wire fence that divided the site into two fields and a rectangular test-pit in House Plot 7.

The remaining features appear to be associated with agricultural activity, though they are not necessarily coeval with the present field system. A complex of three hand-cut field ditches uncovered in House Plot 4 is of uncertain date, as no finds were present. One fire spot was probably related to the burning of scrub. Two further fire spots (F9 and F11) were found in the vicinity of a post structure (F10) of uncertain date. F9 is a well-defined pit cut into one of a pair of earlier, elongated pits of unknown date and function; F11 is a simple depression. F9, F10 and F11 may mark a zone of agricultural activity, but no finds were present to date them precisely. Two post-holes lying within 1m of each other in House Plot 2 yielded no finds. It was suggested by the farmer that they may have functioned as a support for a hayrick, which is not unreasonable as the field has only been in pasture in living memory. A post-pit containing two post-holes, uncovered in the driveway of the same house plot is potentially of prehistoric origin as it contained a waste flint flake and a second one was found nearby. However, it appears to have been free-standing as there was no associated occupation debris. A final feature comprised two contiguous narrow trenches, 6.5m long, 0.25m wide and 0.22m deep, containing sterile clay fills. Apart from the two waste flint flakes, all finds recovered during monitoring were modern.

31 Ashbrook, Oranmore, Co. Galway