County: Wicklow Site name: CHARLESLAND
Sites and Monuments Record No.: RMP 13:6(01, 02); 13:7(01, 02) Licence number: 01E1132
Author: Bernice Molloy, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Enclosure and Burnt mound
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 729198m, N 710156m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.126276, -6.069514
An archaeological assessment was carried out in Charlesland, Co. Wicklow, following a request for additional information from Wicklow County Council for a proposed residential/industrial development and link-road. The site is on a gentle north-east-facing slope with good views of the Sugarloaf and the Wicklow mountains to the west, and the Irish Sea to the east.
Two cropmark sites (SMR 13:6 and 13:7) are located on the southern boundary of the proposed residential development. Two further cropmark sites (SMR 13:22 and 13:23) were located along the route of the proposed link-road and these were tested under a separate licence (see No. 1351, Excavations 2001, 01E1133). Neither site is visible on the ground surface, and both were identified by aerial photography in the 1980s (by J.K.S. St Joseph of Cambridge University). Four circular enclosures were visible on the aerial photograph and several smaller unidentifiable anomalies.
Five test-trenches were excavated. Trenches 1, 3 and 4 revealed curving linear features, one of which contained fragments of prehistoric pottery. Trench 2 revealed burnt mound material. Trench 5 revealed a wide curving ditch over 17m in diameter. It was not possible to correlate exactly the features located during testing with those visible on the aerial photograph, but testing revealed two definite circular enclosures.
Geophysical survey was recommended in order to determine the full extent of the archaeology.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
