2006:697 - Woodside Road, Sandyford, Dublin

Testing was undertaken in advance of development at Woodside Road, Sandyford, Co. Dublin. The proposed development impinged upon the site of a possible enclosure. Significantly, no trace of the enclosure was located during the course of this work. Trench 1, located in the area of the supposed enclosure, revealed a subsurface linear feature, 1m in width. This feature may correspond to the faint feature identified as a possible enclosure on an aerial photograph (Dúchas ref. BKS/July 1978 2776 139/40 roll 89 print 31 Mag by 4), but the fact that it was not identified in adjacent trenches would appear to mitigate against it being part of a possible enclosure.
Two other locations at Woodside were also tested. Trenches 7 and 8 were placed in the north-west corner of the site, where the field boundary forms a distinctive semicircular curve, while Trench 9 was placed in the middle of the site to determine if a potential arcuate feature on the aerial photography corresponded to the presence of subsurface archaeology. While a number of small pits of potential archaeological interest were identified in these trenches, nothing of a more substantial nature was noted.