County: Kildare Site name: MILLENNIUM PARK, WESTERN RING ROAD, NAAS
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 19:16 Licence number: 05E0442
Author: Sinéad Phelan, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd, 27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
Site type: Monitoring
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 689532m, N 719745m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.220565, -6.659308
Monitoring was carried out in advance of the construction of the Millennium Park, Western Ring Road, Naas. Topsoil-stripping took place from 12 April to 13 May 2005. The proposed road scheme, which extended for a length of c. 2km and lies to the immediate west of Naas town, included a portion of the R445 in Jigginstown before it extends northwards to the R409 and beyond into the townland of Ploopluck. The lands affected by the proposed scheme include a mixture of gently undulating pasture and set-aside fields.
The topsoil, a brown clay, varied in depth from 0.3 to 0.5m across the route. A peat basin was exposed in the northern section of the route. The peat varied from c. 0.5 to 1.5m in depth. A fulacht fiadh was identified located on the southern edge of this peat basin in Jigginstown townland. It was subsequently excavated by Teresa Bolger in May 2005 (see No. 775 below, 05E0524). A sample of the peat was taken and its pollen content will be examined in order to provide a background environment for the monument. Nothing else of archaeological significance was identified during monitoring.
