County: Kilkenny Site name: NEWORCHARD (Site B)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E1721
Author: Robert O’Hara, Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd.
Site type: Structure and Road - road/trackway
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 652113m, N 657751m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.668425, -7.229523
The project involves the extension of the N77 Kilkenny ring road from the Dublin road to the Castlecomer road to the north of the city. Site B is located in Neworchard townland and was identified during a desk-based survey of the route as a disused laneway. Testing revealed a stone wall foundation, robbed out in places, delimiting the north-eastern side of the original laneway. No evidence of the original surface remained and it is likely that the lane consisted of compacted sand and gravel deposits, which is the natural subsoil for the area. The robbed-out portions of wall contained glass and ceramics of 19th- or early 20th-century date. There was no associated settlement with the laneway, which may possibly date to the medieval period, and it is suggested it functioned as a route between Ballyfoyle and the medieval church in Garrincreen (SMR 19:11), both of which were under the hegemony of the Purcell family. The site is of no archaeological significance.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co. Louth
