2003:899 - CLANE: Moat Commons, Kildare

The development on this site consists of five apartment buildings and ancillary works on the west bank of the River Liffey. The motte of Clane, SMR 14:26, occupies the north-west corner of the site. The site had extensive farm buildings on it from the 19th and 20th centuries. Some of these are marked on the 1837 OS map, which shows a ‘Woollen Factory’ and ‘Mill Race’ on the site.

The site was the subject of an assessment, including testing, carried out under licence 02E1175 by Eoghan Kieran et al. Trenches A and B disclosed anomalies, and these were excavated under the current licence. They consisted of cultivation marks running north–south and east–west. No artefacts were recovered during this phase. There was a great deal of disturbance on-site from agricultural activities.

The groundworks were monitored and a single extended inhumation was noted close to the surface in an area designated for a carpark immediately south of the motte. This is currently undergoing osteological study. Two pits in the same area were of medieval origin. F178 was subrectangular in shape, measuring 3m by 2.5m by 1.5m deep. It contained 35 sherds of medieval pottery and some animal bone. The lower part of the feature was waterlogged. The fills contained charcoal and the subsoil on the south wall was reddened. F103 was small, roughly circular and c. 0.8m in diameter, with a single fill containing five sherds of medieval pottery. Several fragments of ditches, truncated by modern activity, were discovered but none contained medieval material.

In the vicinity of Building 4, to the east of the motte, were some spreads which contained medieval pottery. These deposits were probably not in situ.

The groundworks for Buildings 1 and 3–5 are complete; excavation of foundations for Building 2 have been deferred.

Umberstown Great, Summerhill, Co. Meath