County: Carlow Site name: Ballybannon
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: E002613
Author: Áine Richardson, Headland Archaeology Ltd, Unit 1, Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork.
Site type: Possible trackway, prehistoric activity
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 671798m, N 670742m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.782918, -6.935698
The site was excavated as part of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford scheme: Kilcullen to Powerstown. Testing carried out under Ministerial Direction number A021/055 on this site in 2005 (Excavations 2005, No. 56) identified a number of features in almost every trench excavated. No specific site type was identified, but the amount of archaeological features encountered was substantial enough to warrant further investigation.
The southern side of the field contained a concentration of pits and post-holes, while almost all the other trenches contained some activity in the form of ditches, pits, post-holes and both linear and curvilinear features. A provisional date of mid to late medieval, based on finds from the area, can be assigned to many of the features.
Full excavation was carried out between 1 May and 30 June. Prehistoric pits and post-holes were excavated in concentrated areas of the site. Also excavated were pits, ditches and post-holes revealed in testing, and also possible medieval and post-medieval ditches and trackway. The site is 40m to the north-west of a possible motte and bailey site (CW012–012), and 200m to the south of a moated enclosure site (CW012–011). Some of the identified archaeological features could provisionally be dated to the medieval period, and a connection with the nearby sites seems logical, presumably deriving from some form of ancillary activity.
