2004:0485 - LEHAUNSTOWN PARK, CHERRYWOOD, Dublin

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Dublin Site name: LEHAUNSTOWN PARK, CHERRYWOOD

Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 26:93 Licence number: 04E0710

Author: Teresa Bolger, c/o Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd, 27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.

Site type: No archaeological significance

Period/Dating:

ITM: E 723924m, N 723028m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.243152, -6.143295

An assessment was carried out as part of a submission for the Cherrywood Local Area Plan. A test excavation was carried out along the alignment of the proposed 'Lehaunstown Road', where it would pass to the north of the curtilage of Lehaunstown Park close to the constraint area of a tower-house.

The excavation site lies within one of the areas in which a geophysical survey was carried out by GSB Prospection Ltd in 2001. This survey identified a series of anomalies to the north-east of Lehaunstown Park and to the north-west of the laneway from Tully churchyard.

Sixteen test-trenches were excavated along a 40mwide section of the proposed road-take parallel to the boundary wall of Lehaunstown Park. The excavation did not identify the existence of any archaeological features or deposits; no stray finds were recovered. It seems likely that the frequent ferrous anomalies identified by the geophysical survey are the result of underlying geological features - specifically the frequent granite erratics encountered during the excavation.

It would also appear that the two linear anomalies identified by the geophysical survey relate to the land drains identified in Trenches 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15, though it is also possible that they reflect deeper geological formations.

The test excavation clearly indicates that no structures, features or deposits associated with the tower-house at Lehaunstown Park extend to the north-east of the present boundary wall.