2001:670 - NAAS: Dublin Road, Kildare

Archaeological investigations were carried out prior to the construction of a shopping centre and multi-storey carpark. Previous work was carried out at the site by Claire Mullins (Excavations 1995, No. 160, 95E0279) and Michael Tierney (Excavations 2000, No. 507, 00E0842) after the discovery of human remains. Eighty-one individuals were uncovered and 27 excavated during testing that was intended to work out the nature and extent of the archaeological deposits. This was completed and a strategy agreed with Dúchas for the preservation of the human remains in situ. It was concluded that the human remains were part of the graveyard of the 13th-century Augustinian priory thought to be located 75m to the west of the site, just outside the medieval town wall (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988).

Further work at the site necessitated another testing programme. This was begun by Laurence Dunne (see Excavations 2001, No. 669) and completed by the writer. A series of archaeological features were uncovered.

The proposed development site is on the western side of the Dublin Road immediately to the north-east of the heart of Naas town centre. This subrectangular linear site is delimited by the divergence of the Dublin Road and the Sallins Road. Naas town centre is a designated zone of archaeological potential, recorded in the Record of Monuments and Places as a medieval town (see Bradley et al., n.d.).

The site can be divided into three elements — the field boundaries, pits and human remains.

The excavations revealed two main lines of field boundaries marked by the remains of the ditches that produced large quantities of medieval pottery dating from the 13th and 14th centuries. They ran across the site with a broad east–west orientation, from the Sallins Road. There were three offshoots from the two main ditches. Phasing based on closer pottery analysis should provide a chronology of use and development for these features.

Eleven rubbish and storage pits with frequent sherds of medieval pottery were excavated, along with eight modern pits with material remains dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. These were broadly positioned so as to be associated with settlement activity along the modern Sallins Road. No traces of any remains, however, other than 19th-century cottages, were found along the road front. The remains of the cottages had been cleared away by Naas UDC for the construction of a carpark. It is possible that earlier features were cleared at this stage, or that the medieval road and street front was located further west of the current road.

Four stone-lined wells were excavated. All produced large quantities of medieval pottery. A silver penny dating from the early 14th century was found on top of one of them. The first well was constructed with unbonded limestone. Four steps were cut to the side of a circular stone-lined well, which was 1.57m deep. It measured 4.02m east–west by 2.09m.

The second well was 5m to the west of this. It was stone-lined and was cut to a maximum depth of 1.91m. It measured 1.68m north–south by 1.65m. The water was accessed from the south-western corner, where there was a large flat stone in situ that looked like the core of a small platform. Across from the platform area the wall had the appearance of containing a recess, possibly for a shrine of some kind. If the interpretation as a well is accurate, it is unlikely that it was used for drawing water for domestic or agricultural purposes because the likely depth of any water would only have been around 0.5m.

Immediately to the west of this was a smaller well, circular in shape with a 2.3m-diameter cut and depth of 1.59m. The wall was 1.64m in diameter and 1.26m deep, with flat stones on the southern side possibly giving access.

The fourth well was 10m to the south. It measured 3.12m north-east/south-west by 2.5m. Access was from the north-west, where two steps were cut into the natural, one of which showed evidence of being gritted with coarse pebbles. The stone-lined well was 1.29m in diameter with a depth of 1.4m.

The pottery from all wells was broadly similar, being given a tentative 13th- and 14th-century date. It was noted that there was a higher proportion of exotic pottery in the well backfills than in the rubbish-pits. It is likely that the wells were deliberately backfilled or went out of use at the same time. Further interpretation, based on the pottery, will follow the completion of specialist reports.

Two areas of the site had human remains. The first was a grave containing four individuals found in the eastern part of the site, 6m from the Dublin Road. The cut was 1.53m north-east/south-west and 0.7m wide, with a depth of 0.58m. The bodies gave the appearance of having been thrown casually into the grave, rather than being placed in, either in coffins or shrouds. At least two individuals showed evidence of possible trauma to arm bones. The grave was c. 75m north-east of the graveyard found under the earlier test excavations, and so appeared to be on unconsecrated ground. This raises the possibility that these individuals were social outcasts of some kind (Leigh Fry 1999). Medieval pottery was found in the backfill.

The second area was a layer of redeposited and badly fragmented human remains found over 25m north of the edge of the graveyard identified by Michael Tierney (Excavations 2000, No. 507, 00E0849). They were spread over an area measuring 1.95m east–west by 1.63m, with a maximum depth of 0.35m, and were found in a layer of building rubble which may have come from the construction of the cottages along the Dublin Road. It is likely that the human remains were gathered up and deposited at this location during site clearance works for these cottages in the 19th century. Specialist reports on these remains have been commissioned.

References
Bradley, J., Halpin, A. and King, H. [n.d.] The Urban Archaeological Survey, County Kildare, vol. 4. Unpublished document held in Newbridge Library.
Gwynn, A. and Hadcock, R.N. 1988 Medieval religious houses, Ireland. Dublin.
Leigh Fry, S. 1999 Burial in medieval Ireland 900–1500. Dublin.

River Oaks, Riverstown, Birr, Co. Offaly