County: Kerry Site name: BALLYSEEDY
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E0616
Author: Frank Coyne, Aegis Archaeology Ltd, 16 Avondale Court, Corbally, Limerick.
Site type: Multi-phase prehistoric and early medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 486524m, N 612461m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.252158, -9.661990
Several features of possible archaeological merit were identified during monitoring of a short access road to Ballyseedy Woods (see No. 668 above).
Various features were uncovered during the course of the topsoil-stripping, including pits, ditches, burnt spreads and linear features. These were all investigated. The route taken by the access road does not impinge on the zone of archaeological potential for any recorded monuments.
Many of the features investigated were drains and modern agricultural features. The largest feature on the site (C60) differed from the rest of the drainage features in that it was considerably deeper and in places had a V-shaped profile. While it may also have functioned as a drain, its morphology suggests that it could also have functioned as a field boundary. However, it does not conform to any boundary marked on the first-edition 6-inch OS map for the area (c. 1840), so it must pre-date this time, at least. Also, it did not fit into the pattern of arterial drainage uncovered elsewhere in the field, as, unlike the linear pattern of the drains, it has a distinct curve.
In the absence of diagnostic artefacts and charcoal, the function of most of the features excavated are unknown. However, a pit with adjacent post-hole was filled with firm greyish-black silty sand, fragments of burnt stone and flecks of charcoal. This pit was cut by the curving ditch feature C60.
