County: Kildare Site name: OUGHTERARD
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 15:7 Licence number: 00E0566
Author: Clare Mullins
Site type: Ecclesiastical enclosure
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 695700m, N 726074m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.276349, -6.565080
Test-trenching was carried out on a site at Oughterard, Straffan, Co. Kildare, on 9 August 2000, in compliance with a condition within the grant of planning for the demolition of a disused cottage and the construction of a bungalow and septic tank system.
The site in which the proposed development is located is classified as a shrunken medieval settlement. This area contains the remains of a hilltop ecclesiastical site with the remains of a round tower and church. There is also a 15th-century tower-house. The development site is on the southern slope of the low hill on which the church site is.
Three test-trenches were inserted in the areas of greatest impact from the development. No archaeological features were uncovered. The site proved to be very disturbed, with the upper levels of bedrock lying close to the ground surface, suggesting the previous reduction of levels on the site. The north-west corner of the site was occupied by an old quarry-pit.
31 Millford, Athgarvan, Co. Kildare
