County: Kildare Site name: PITCHFORDSTOWN (Site AE29)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0146
Author: Dermot Nelis, IAC Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 687041m, N 739907m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.402125, -6.691074
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 AE29 was listed as a series of cultivation ridges. One linear and eighteen offset trenches were excavated across the area. Testing revealed topsoil, 0.4m deep, sealing geologically deposited strata across the whole of the site. Natural was a compact, mid- to dark brown, silty clay. The area was not heavily disturbed by field drains or modern farming practices.
Testing failed to reveal any archaeological remains. The cultivation ridges are interpreted as being the remains of relatively recent farming practices and are not considered to be of archaeological significance. They sealed finds of 19th-century date.
This project was funded by Westmeath County Council.
8 Dungar Terrace, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin
