County: Wicklow Site name: BALLYHENRY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E1222
Author: Emmet Stafford for ADS Ltd.
Site type: Burnt spread
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 727758m, N 698835m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.024938, -6.095522
Testing was carried out by Ciara McManus at Ballyhenry, Co. Wicklow, in advance of construction of the N11 Newtownmountkennedy to Ballynabarny dual carriageway during the autumn of 2001 (No. 1329, Excavations 2001, 01E0832). The area was selected for testing because of its low-lying waterlogged location in the immediate vicinity of a burnt mound complex excavated by Catherine McLoughlin in Rathmore townland (01E0471; see No. 1380 Excavations 2001). A number of sites were identified during the test-trenching exercise, one of which, New Site D, a small deposit of heat-shattered stones, was excavated in December 2001.
Archaeological deposits were confined to an area measuring 6m east–west by 5m. The deposits consisted of shallow layers of stone, large proportions of which appeared to have been heat-shattered. These deposits contained varying amounts of charcoal.
No identifiable trough feature was uncovered. A shallow rounded feature cut into the natural clays was, however, revealed after the removal of the burnt stone deposits.
Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Dublin 3
