County: Wicklow Site name: MOUNT USHER
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 02E0610
Author: Ciara MacManus, ADS Ltd.
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 720115m, N 679164m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.850000, -6.216667
A metal-detection survey was carried out over one day by Eoghan Kieran on behalf of ADS Ltd as part of archaeological investigations along the line of the proposed Ballynabarny–Newtownmountkennedy Road Scheme. As part of this N11 realignment scheme, a bridge is to be built over the Vartry River in County Wicklow. The bridge will join the townlands of Rossana Lower on the southern banks with Mount Usher on the northern side. This area has been identified as one of high archaeological potential, because of its proximity to a mound/ring-barrow, SMR 25:7(36), and in light of recent discoveries at Rossana Lower, including a medieval enclosure and a number of post-medieval features. It was deemed, therefore, that the site warranted pre-disturbance investigations. These took the form of a metal-detection survey on the northern bank of the river, aimed at recording the location of all ferrous metals in the immediate development area, and a wading survey of the river to ascertain its archaeological content.
The metal-detection survey recorded 53 contacts. A number of these were recognisable on the surface, but most remained buried. As a representative sample, fifteen of the 53 hits were investigated. As a number of the recorded contacts were concentrated in the north-western part of the survey area, close to modern rubble and debris strewn along the southern bank of the river, it was decided to investigate the contacts farther away from this modern disturbance.
On investigation, none of the metal-detection contacts proved to be of antiquity; they represented mainly modern refuse.
Unit 48, Westlink Enterprise Centre, 30–50 Distillery Street, Belfast BT12 5BJ
