County: Kildare Site name: ATHGARVAN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 23:21 Licence number: 01E0450
Author: Teresa Bolger
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 680546m, N 711289m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.146023, -6.795965
A test excavation was carried out on 12 June 2001 along a section of the proposed Newbridge to Athgarvan Water Pipeline. A desktop assessment of the entire scheme had been carried out in February 2001 by IAC Ltd. This noted that the proposed pipeline would run adjacent to a cemetery site roughly 1.3km south of Newbridge, Co. Kildare. It recommended monitoring of the overall scheme and also that testing be carried out along that section of the proposed pipeline route running near the cemetery.
It was decided that, rather than opening a series of small trenches, a single long trench should be excavated along the line of the proposed pipeline. The trench measured c. 100m in length and was c. 1m wide. It was situated on the hard shoulder running along the eastern side of the R416, with its position centred on the entrance to the property where the inhumations had been uncovered in the 1960s. The trench was excavated until natural geological strata were reached. No archaeological material was uncovered, no human remains were noted and there was no indication of any disturbance to the geological strata. It would appear that the cemetery did not extend as far east as the road.
28 Haroldville Avenue, Rialto, Dublin 8
