2004:0811 - CELBRIDGE: Main Street, Kildare

The site of the proposed development is located on the eastern side of Main Street, Celbridge, extending east towards the bank of the River Liffey, c. 75m north of the Liffey bridge. The development area is a rectangular plot measuring c. 70m long (east-west) by up to 14m wide. The proposed development consists of the construction of a three-storey building fronting onto Main Street containing two ground-floor shop units and four apartments, with car parking to the rear. An assessment was carried out during November and December 2003, including the excavation of six trial cuttings (Excavations 2003, No. 894). In January 2004 the development of the site proceeded and foundation trenching was monitored on 20–26 January 2004. There were no features or deposits of archaeological significance in Trenches 1, 2 or 5.

Trench 3 was aligned south-east to north-west in the middle of the new development. It measured c. 27m long by 0.95m wide by 0.75m deep. It was dug through a layer of dark-grey/brown clay flecked with mortar, up to 0.4m deep, overlying the light-grey/brown clay subsoil, which was quarried to a depth of 0.35m. One feature of archaeological significance was revealed in the south-facing section of the trench. This was a pit dug into the subsoil. The pit measured 1.14m wide along the section (southeast to north-west) and extended up to 0.8m from the section edge into the trench and was up to 0.53m deep. The fill consisted of crumbly dark-grey/brown clay containing several small to medium-sized stones and some spots of charcoal. Two sherds of medieval pottery were found in this material, a strap handle sherd and a body sherd from a jug. The pit fill was sealed by heavy dark-grey/brown clay containing flecks of mortar and brick fragments.

Trench 4, aligned south-east to north-west, was dug along the long southern boundary of the property. It measured c. 27m long by 1m wide by up to 0.9m deep. The trench was dug through the surface layer of fine gravel, a layer of dark-grey/brown silty clay up to 0.5m deep, and up to 0.3m deep into the waterlogged pale grey/brown subsoil. There was one feature of archaeological significance at the western end of this trench, a pit exposed in the south-facing section. The pit measured 1.45m wide in section by c. 0.6m deep in the subsoil, although the base could not be defined due to the waterlogged condition of the trench. The fill consisted of soft dark-grey organic clay containing several small stones. The fill was sealed by a thick layer of soft grey/brown silty clay containing numerous large limestones, several of them mortared. An almost intact glass bottle dating from 1700 to 1710 was located at the base of this layer, directly overlying the pit fill. A post-medieval sgraffito ware potsherd was also recovered from the interface between the pit fill and the layer above it.

No digging took place in the eastern half of the site, between the line of Trench 2 and the bank of the river Liffey, marking the eastern limit of the property. Ground level here was raised by the dumping of heavy stone and, adjacent to the river bank, with some of the grey/brown clay and stone derived from the foundation trenches.

Monitoring confirmed the main findings of the test-trenching investigation. No in situ layers of medieval date survived on the surface of the subsoil; all material deposited on the subsoil was bulk fill relating to construction activity of 18th- or 19th-century date. However, the remains of scattered negative features (i.e. pits or linear features cut into subsoil) did survive on the site, some of which were picked up by the test cuttings (Excavations 2003) and others by the foundation trenches. These features were either medieval or post-medieval in date, based on associated artefacts.

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