County: Kildare Site name: BOYCETOWN (Site AE27)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0144
Author: Dermot Nelis, IAC Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 687173m, N 740258m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.405256, -6.688993
Testing was carried out as part of the Kinnegad– Enfield–Kilcock (Contract 3) Bypass. The overall scheme (Contracts 1–3) involves the excavation of c. 35km of motorway, commencing to the south-west of Kinnegad in County Westmeath and continuing eastward through counties Meath and Kildare, terminating at the western end of the existing M4 motorway at Kilcock. Contract 3 covers the route from Kilcock to the east of Enfield (c. 11km).
Site AE27 was recorded in the environmental impact statement as a series of cultivation ridges. Measurements taken on the rectified images give the spacing of the ridges as c. 3.2m.
One linear and 25 offset trenches were excavated across the area of AE27 to define the profile of the cultivation ridges and to establish their function and date. Testing revealed topsoil sealing geologically deposited strata across the whole site. Topsoil was on average 0.4m deep over natural, compact, mid- to dark brown clay. The area was not heavily disturbed by field drains or modern farming practices.
Testing of the cultivation ridges failed to reveal any archaeological remains. Ploughmarks associated with the ridge and furrow did not cut natural, suggesting only shallow activity in this area. The presence of modern pottery sealed by cultivation ridges at AE29, 160m south of AE27, suggests that these features are modern and therefore of no archaeological significance.
This project was funded by Westmeath County Council.
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