County: Kilkenny Site name: BLANCHFIELDSLAND (Site D)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1722
Author: Robert O’Hara, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Hearth and Pit
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 652368m, N 656607m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.658122, -7.225936
The project involves the extension of the Kilkenny ring road from the Dublin Road to the Castlecomer Road to the north of the city. Site D is a low mound located in Blanchfieldsland townland and was identified during a field-walking survey of the route as a site of archaeological potential. Seven test-trenches with a combined total length of 293m were excavated across the low mound, which was approximately 35m in diameter and 0.5–1m high. A small circular hearth and an oval-shaped pit were recorded in one of the trenches. The pit contained a largely homogenous clay fill with occasional large fragments of animal bone. The hearth contained a small amount of charcoal but survived principally as a spread of oxidised clay. No associated features were recorded in any of the surrounding trenches and no artefacts were recovered.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
