County: Kildare Site name: KNOCKNAGEE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 39:32, 33 and 25, adjacent to Licence number: 01E0528
Author: John Channing
Site type: Enclosure, Pit and Well
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 674984m, N 679994m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.865624, -6.886351
The extension of the Carlow Golf Club course onto land straddling the Carlow–Kildare border encompassed three sites of known archaeological interest apparent on aerial photographs. Following two earlier paper assessments, which led to an alteration of the development to negate its impact upon the archaeology, a series of test-trenches were excavated in an attempt to confirm the estimated impact.
The archaeology within the demarcated SMR zones was to be left undisturbed by the proposed development and the trenches were located outside the SMR zones in the footprints of proposed soak-pits.
Testing confirmed the existence of subsurface features as initially highlighted through aerial survey. The ‘keyhole’ nature of testing renders interpretation of the features difficult; however, two ditch features appear to run in an east–west line across Test-trenches 2 and 5, though with only two known points on each feature extrapolation of their line is limited. Testing of these features did not yield any artefacts.
The close proximity and diverging nature of the ditches leave open alternative interpretations beyond that of field system. They may also form part of a larger complex incorporating a circular enclosure and trackway identified on aerial photo BG42 and possibly the nearby ploughed-out sites of SMR 39:23 and 24.
The development was further altered to ensure the preservation of existing archaeology.
Monitoring of the development revealed a stone-lined well shaft c. 150m south-east of the recorded sites, and a shallow circular pit c. 250m south-east of the recorded sites. The shallow pit produced a radiocarbon date of AD 1261.
Stratford-on-Slaney, Co. Wicklow
