2005:1703 - CORKE GREAT AND RAVENSWELL, Wicklow

Monitoring was carried out along a section of the Shanganagh and Bray main drainage scheme. The section monitored was located in the grounds of Bray Golf Club, to the north of Bray town, in the townlands of Corke Great and Ravenswell. The drainage scheme gravity pipe passed through the constraint area of the Pale ditch. A section of this monument, visible as a bank with a depression on either side, crosses the golf course in a roughly east–west direction. The gravity drain was designed to cross the monument at its least discernible point. A test excavation was carried out by Margaret Gowen in advance of these works (Excavations 2002, No. 1960, 02E1717). The results suggested that the Pale boundary had been levelled in this area during the construction of the golf course.

During the course of monitoring, a low bank of redeposited natural was identified. This bank shared an alignment with the Pale ditch and appeared to be a continuation of this feature. The bank was in a much-degraded state and survived to c. 0.3m in height and 5.5m in width. The bank material consisted of redeposited natural containing occasional pieces of animal bone. Evidence for a ditch 2.5m in width and 0.6m in depth was found along the southern side of this bank. Although this cut was filled with a deposit containing modern material (red brick and golf tees), it might represent a medieval cut that was cleaned out and reused as a field drain at a much later date. With the exception of the levelled Pale bank, no other features of archaeological significance were identified during the course of this monitoring programme.

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