County: Laois Site name: MORETT
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E0141
Author: Grace Fegan, for Valerie J. Keeley Ltd.
Site type: Field boundary
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 653755m, N 703668m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.080910, -7.197670
Investigations were conducted at Morett, Co. Laois, on behalf of Kildare County Council NRDO, in February 2003. This site was investigated due to its proposed disturbance by the M7 Heath–Mayfield Motorway Scheme. The site was observed from aerial photography as two parallel cropmarks running south from a shed built around an earlier, derelict, dwelling. The first-edition OS map shows that these cropmarks correspond with two parallel field boundaries forming a long, narrow plot running south from the buildings. The easternmost boundary incorporates a narrow laneway.
The laneway was examined in Trench 1. Initial layers of organic build-up and redeposited natural covered a 2.4m-wide metalled surface of evenly sized stones set in a clayey sand, lying 0.65m below the present ground level. A linear depression in the surface running along its eastern edge most likely represented a drainage gully. These cobbles made up a sunken laneway, which corresponded to what was marked on the first-edition OS map.
The westernmost feature was examined in Trench 2. It consisted of a shallow boundary ditch measuring 2.7m wide. This feature represents the remains of a field boundary associated with the architectural remains.
The site appeared to comprise the property boundaries of a domestic plot, incorporating a sunken laneway. The associated structures seem to date to the late 18th and early 19th centuries and it is thought that the property boundaries are contemporary.
Brehon House, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny
