County: Kildare Site name: LEIXLIP: 6 The Mall
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0643
Author: John O’Connor, for ADS Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 700501m, N 735912m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.363843, -6.490003
Monitoring was carried out at 6 The Mall, Leixlip, Co. Kildare, from 5 to 9 November and also on 21 November 2001. The proposed development involved the construction of a two-storey extension to the rear of the existing premises. This required the removal of c. 0.2–0.33m of soil across the site and the excavation, by hand, of five foundation trenches.
The stratigraphy revealed across the site was more or less consistent. A number of layers of ‘garden soil’ were recorded, differing mainly in concentrations of stone inclusions. From the pottery recovered from these layers it would appear that they are relatively recent. A final layer, compact and stony clay, may represent the original topsoil of the site. This did not yield any modern pottery and would appear to be post-medieval in date. The medieval pottery recovered from the site is likely to be due to disturbance of deeper deposits. A potentially medieval layer was recorded in Test-trench 3 during testing carried out in August 2001 (see Excavations 2001, No. 657) but this layer was not exposed during these works. It is likely that the medieval layer exists below the level excavated and that the sherds that were found are associated with this.
The only structural feature found was in the south-east corner of the site, where the walls were uncovered. The wall is apparently the remains of a stone outhouse which was attached to the rear of the main house. The relatively modern deposits found on either side of the walls probably represent the time when the outhouse and other parts of the original house were demolished. This would explain the large quantity of fragmentary building material, brick and cut stones, found within the deposits.
2 Walnut Rise, Courtlands, Dublin 9
