County: Kildare Site name: BALLYONAN (1)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E1087
Author: Robert O’Hara, ACS Ltd.
Site type: Pit
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 666741m, N 742219m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.425860, -6.995791
Excavation was carried out on behalf of Westmeath County Council at Ballyonan 1, Co. Kildare, before the construction of the M4 Kinnegad–Enfield– Kilcock Motorway Scheme, Contract 2, from 23 to 26 September 2002. The excavated area was just north of the River Glash, on the outskirts of Broadford village. A layer of topsoil, 0.2–0.3m deep, was mechanically excavated, revealing compact, yellow/grey marl, within which were a number of geological depressions and channels containing compact clay, the result of hydraulic action. An area of 30m by 40m was stripped but failed to reveal any features apart from a thinly spread deposit of compact charcoal flecking. There was no evidence of burning in situ, either within the spread or in the immediate area. No cultural material was recovered to suggest a function. The deposit measured 1m north–south by 1.1m and was 0.03m thick. No cut was recorded for the feature. Its north-western side had been clipped by one of a series of shallow field drains that ran north-east/south-west through the excavated area. It provided a radiocarbon date of cal. AD 1200–1300 (possibly a result of old wood effect).
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
