2001:562 - DINGLE: Green Street, Kerry

Planning permission was sought for the construction of retirement apartments in a two-storey building with attic development. It was required that an assessment of the site be carried out.
The site lies on the lower western side of Green Street, Dingle, behind the former Curran’s Butchers, and consists of an area of 0.96 acres. It lies within the zone of archaeological potential for the medieval town of Dingle, but lies outside the area originally enclosed by the medieval town wall, as inferred by Bradley et al. (1985, part xiv, fig. 23). The nearest part of the town wall ran c. 200m north-east of the proposed development site.

Test excavations took place on 19 and 20 November 2001. The proposed development takes the form in plan of a C-shape with its open side to the east. Three test-trenches were excavated, all measuring 25m long by 2m wide. These corresponded to the three sides of the proposed development. All were excavated by machine and cleaned down by hand. The subsoil uncovered in all trenches consisted of a grey/yellow silty sand.

Trench 1 was oriented east–west across the southern part of the site. The topsoil was found to be extremely deep and the subsoil sloped downwards from west to east. Thus there was a depth of 1.2m down to subsoil at the eastern extreme and a depth of 0.55m at the western extreme. Below the very thin (<0.15m) topsoil was a layer composed to a large extent of modern building demolition rubble, including concrete, perforated red brick and slate, all mixed with a dark brown sandy silt. Some occasional fragments of oyster shell and bone were also recovered from this layer. The mixed topsoil/rubble deposit in this trench came straight down onto subsoil with no sign of any earlier deposits.

Trench 2 was oriented north–south across the western part of the site. There was a depth of 1.05m from the surface down to subsoil at the southern extreme of the trench and of 0.7m at the northern. In this trench the rubble layer, C1, is restricted to the southern part of the trench and overlies C2, a layer of purer, light brown sandy silt with occasional inclusions of charcoal. It seems likely that this is the original topsoil of the field and that C1 is a layer deposited over the southern part of the field to level the surface. A number of features were uncovered cut into the subsoil. At the south end were three contexts. C3 is a linear deposit running south-west/north-east across the trench, apparently filling a parallel-sided cut and consisting of light brown silt with some ash and charcoal inclusions. Running north-north-west/south-south-east and apparently cutting through C3 is C4, a deposit of mid-brown sandy silt, possibly the same as C2. Immediately to the north of C3 is C5, a light brown sandy silt deposit running east–west and again possibly the same as the overlying C2. Like the two preceding deposits, C5 appears to fill a cut. Further north in Trench 2 are a series of four pits. These are apparently modern rubbish-pits, all having the same mixed dark brown/light brown very rooty fill and moderate inclusions of charcoal and small stones. Fragments of modern china were visible in all four pits. These fills may be the same as C1.

Trench 3 was oriented east–west across the northern part of the site. There was a depth of 0.7m from the surface down to subsoil at the western extreme of Trench 3, and of 0.8m at the eastern. Possible archaeology was uncovered near the eastern end: part of a probable ditch and bank. The upper part of the stratigraphy in Trench 3 was found to be the same as that in Trench 2, with a thin layer of topsoil lying over C1, which in turn lay over C2. A layer of mid-brown sandy silt, C10, lay below C2 throughout Trench 3. At one point in the section these three contexts were cut through by C11 with fill C12, a modern rubbish-pit similar to those recorded in Trench 2. At the east end of the trench the stratigraphy was more complex owing to the presence of several deposits related to the probable bank and ditch. Contexts 13–15 are fills of the probable ditch which showed up in the section as the very top of the deposits were scraped back, although they were not excavated. Below C12 is C13, a mixed dark brown/grey silt with moderate charcoal inclusions. Below this is C14, a deposit of pure, very light brown sand. C15 lies below this sand and consists of a deposit of very light yellowish green clayey sand, possibly redeposited natural. A piece of worked flint was recovered from the upper surface of C15. Immediately to the east of these probable ditch fills was C16, a deposit of light yellowish brown silty sand, almost certainly redeposited natural. This deposit extended beyond the eastern end of Trench 3, so its full width was not determined, but the manner in which it rises suddenly immediately adjacent to the ditch suggests that it may be a bank. Stratigraphically C16 is earlier than all the ditch fills.

The majority of features encountered were clearly modern in date. These include C1, the rubbish-pits in Trench 2 and C11/12 in Trench 3. Contexts C3–5 in the south part of Trench 2 cannot be dated on the basis of present knowledge. The features in the east part of Trench 3, C13–16, appear to form part of a bank and ditch. The type of low, wide profile presented by the excavated portion of the bank is not typical of post-medieval field boundaries and it seems reasonable to suggest that these features are archaeological in nature. Furthermore, when one takes into account the recovery of a worked flint from the upper part of the ditch fill and the position of the proposed development site outside the walls of the medieval town, it might be suggested that these features are likely to pre-date the foundation of the town.

Reference
Bradley, J. et al. 1985 Urban Archaeological Survey. Unpublished. OPW.

3 Canal Place, Tralee, Co. Kerry