County: Dublin Site name: Ballinascorney Junction, Cullen’s Lane, Tallaght
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU024–042, DU024–066 Licence number: 06E0667
Author: Rob Lynch, Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd, 9 Albert Terrace, Meath Road, Bray, Co. Wicklow.
Site type: Post-medieval activity
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 707177m, N 722678m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.243652, -6.394201
Monitoring and excavation was carried out at the site of the Ballinascorney Junction upgrade, which was required to fulfil planning conditions of the junction improvement scheme. The area to the immediate west of Cullen’s Lane contains a ring-barrow (DU024–042). The constraint area of DU024–066, an enclosure, is partially located in the CPO area, but the site itself is located to the south of the junction.
Monitoring took place on 7 July. Topsoil-stripping was carried out using a 20-tonne excavator equipped with a toothless bucket. All accessible areas of the proposed development, which were required to be stripped, were monitored. Nothing of archaeological significance was found within the area subjected to topsoil-stripping on the western side of the proposed junction. There was no impact on DU024–042 during the monitoring of work.
One area of possible archaeological potential was identified on the eastern side of the proposed junction. A circular feature was noted, along with a mixed spread of material containing mortar and degraded white limestone. Excavation commenced and was completed on 9 August with a crew of five people. The excavation area measured c. 13m by 6m and was bordered to the immediate west by a drystone wall that was constructed as a boundary between the field and Cullen’s Lane.
This area was cleaned by hand and one circular feature was identified and excavated. It is possible that this feature may be a refuse pit associated with a building that is marked within this area on the first-edition OS map. The potential remains of this building were identified within the stone wall that borders Cullen’s Lane to the immediate west of the pit. The drystone wall runs the length of the existing Cullen’s Lane in a north-north-east/south-south-west direction. A section of this wall was removed to facilitate the proposed junction improvement and this revealed that it had been constructed without any bonding material. The stones were roughly hewn and irregular in shape, ranging in size from 0.5m by 0.24m to 0.08m by 0.04m. It is probable that all of these features date to the post-medieval period. No archaeological artefacts were discovered or soil samples taken.
