County: Carlow Site name: BALLYBANNON
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: E002616
Author: Áine Richardson, Headland Archaeology Ltd.
Site type: Kiln - corn-drying, Ring-ditch and Pit
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 671052m, N 671198m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.787114, -6.946653
The site was excavated as part of the N9/N10 Kilcullen to Waterford scheme: Kilcullen to Powerstown. Testing carried out under Ministerial Direction number A021/058 on this site in 2005 (Excavations 2005, No. 59) identified ditches, pits and post-holes.
The majority of the site lay on a slight ridge, which gave way to land sloping gently to the north and west and was under pasture at the time of resolution. The excavation focused largely on the areas identified during the testing phase, as the size of the site meant that large-scale cleaning by hand of the entire area was not possible.
Full resolution was conducted on this site between 17 and 28 July 2006. This revealed a corn-drying kiln, a possible shallow ring-ditch and numerous pits. A total of 31 features were excavated on this site. The site is 20m to the north-east of a possible motte and bailey (CW012–012) and 100m to the south of a moated enclosure (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.
Unit 1, Wallingstown Business Park, Little Island, Cork
