County: Dublin Site name: KILTALOWN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU021–018 Licence number: 06E0709
Author: Martin E. Byrne, Byrne Mullins & Associates, 7 Cnoc na Gréine Square, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare.
Site type: Linear earthwork site
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 706317m, N 725758m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.271489, -6.406049
Testing was undertaken at Kiltalown, Tallaght, as part of the preparation of a revised archaeological impact assessment with respect to the Boherboy water supply scheme. A linear earthwork has been identified in the gardens of Kiltalown House. The earthwork runs south from the house before turning west along the southern boundary. It is c. 330m in length and survives in a variable state of preservation. Previous testing of the feature undertaken by Tadgh O’Keeffe (Excavations 1999, No. 276, 98E0118) indicated that the bank was created by the scarping of natural soil from a gully.
It is proposed to route a pipeline across the feature at its western end. There were no surface traces of the earthwork at this location identified during previous field inspections carried out in 2001. Such fieldwork indicated that this area of the site had been previously disturbed. However, the immediate area has since been developed as a park by the local authority and a pedestrian entrance, path and boundary fence have been constructed in the area of the proposed pipeline.
A single trench was excavated along the line of the pipeline in the area and no evidence for the earthwork gully was uncovered. Likewise, there was no evidence for an associated bank. It is speculated that previous ground-disturbance works at this location, undertaken prior to the recent construction of a pathway and entrance, may have removed all traces of the earthwork in this area.
