2001:646 - CHAPEL HILL, Kildare, Kildare

It is proposed to undertake a residential development at Chapel Hill, Kildare, consisting of the construction of a terrace of five two-storey houses, a single detached two-storey house and a two-storey apartment block containing four apartments. The latter two buildings will be located on a plot on the western side of Chapel Hill, with the remaining buildings located on a plot on the eastern side of the road.

Testing was carried out on 15 and 16 March 2001 as the site is located within the designated zone of archaeological potential associated with Kildare town, being immediately to the north and north-west of a complex of monuments including St Brigid’s Cathedral and early monastic site. Furthermore, there is documentary and cartographic evidence that an RC chapel, originally dating from the 18th century, was on the western side of Chapel Hill.

Trial-trenching consisted of the mechanical excavation of ten trenches, five each within the confines of the two existing plot boundaries. No features, structures or deposits of archaeological potential were revealed during the course of the testing.

The results from Plot A indicated that the site had been dug over at some time in the past, removing all traces of the chapel site. There is a possibility that such disturbance was undertaken in association with the construction of the adjacent blocks of flats in Tower View Park. In addition, there was some evidence that this area had been subjected to some form of landscaping before it became waste ground in which rubble etc. was dumped.

The testing of Plot B revealed evidence for the foundation remains of the original 19th-century Tower Terrace, which was demolished c. 1906. No features associated with the boundary wall of the cathedral grounds were uncovered, although it should be noted that the test-trenches were kept away from this wall so as not to cause any structural damage to it.

Given the results of testing and the fact that the original surface levels across the site had been reduced substantially in former times, it is not considered likely that any material of archaeological interest or potential exists within the present site boundaries.

There are no known dates for when Chapel Hill was originally laid out. Its line is shown on Rocque’s map of 1757, although it is likely that it existed for a long time before this. It is possible that original surface layers that might aid in the dating of the route lie below the existing surfaces. Consequently it was suggested that, should planning permission be granted for the development or any subsequent development, a condition be included to ensure that all groundworks associated with the provision of sewers and services outside the external boundaries of the development be monitored.

31 Millford, Athgarvan, Co. Kildare